


Do You Want Me (Dead?)

by Riddlerkp



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A little bit of violence, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bonding, Depression, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith (Voltron), Jealousy, M/M, Online Friends, Overwatch - Freeform, Rivals, Slow Burn, Text Format, Therapy, Usernames, bisexual allura, hidden identity, klance, online handle, self hate, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 05:56:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 57,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11480070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riddlerkp/pseuds/Riddlerkp
Summary: When Lance and Keith met in the fourth grade Lance was sure that they were going to be great friends. That was until Keith seemed to hate him right away and their rivalry began. At the same time Lance was discovering the online world and instead found good friends online with his best friend Hunk. The years passed and while Lance and Keith continued to fight Lance finds himself growing close to the boy behind the handle RedLion. What will Lance do when he falls in love with a boy whose name he doesn't even know and what will he do when he finds out that the real identity of this boy is actually someone he knows really well.





	1. Why Cant We be Friends?

**Author's Note:**

> God I hate myself. I guess I can't finish a fanfic without beginning another. Anyways I have been on a kick of reading Klance fics and I was like don't you dare write one you already have a monster of a Yuri on Ice fic to finish. But here I am, writing the fic. I'm not planning to have this Fic be very long but it already went from one chapter to multichapter so we will see how it goes. I'm also going to be finishing the Yuri on Ice one at the same time seeing I'm like 5 chapters to being done so I'm not sure how quickly this one will be updating.
> 
> I got a thing for making my fics titles based off of songs so this one is an All Time Low song. I just picked it because it's a song about not knowing if someone likes you or hates you. No one actually wants to kill anyone is this fic. Check it out if you feel like it.
> 
> I'm also the type to beg because I love being validated so if you have any comments or just want to tell me you if you it please please please leave a comment. I die if I don't have someone tell me I'm going well. I also tend to write faster with encouragement if you know what I mean wink wonk ( homestuck reference? yes please kill me). Okay enough of the begging and being cringy. Thank you for taking the time to read this I wrote this at 1 am so I hope it's not trash and if the plot is trash please stop me before I put too much time into this.

Lance had met Keith back when he was in elementary school. The couple across the street, Jill and Lacey Kogane, had been planning on adopting for a while and when they had told Lance that the child would be around his age Lance could not wait for their arrival. In the days leading up to the day he would be going home with the couple, lance planned all the games they could play and thought about the secret hiding places he would show them in the neighborhood. Lance was outgoing and loved meeting new people and because of this he was practically counting down the days till the kid arrived.

 

His ideas of how it would be were quite far from the truth. The first time he saw the kid he ran outside excitedly to meet him. He already saw that he was Asian, later he would find out from Korea, and he had short black hair and gray eyes that looked purple in certain lighting. Lance bounced and leaped across his lawn and ran across the street without even looking to the horror of everyone outside at the time.

 

“Lance!” Jill had screeched in horror, her head whipping around to see if there was any cars. When she saw non she sighed in relief. “Look before you cross please.”

 

“Sorry ma’am.” He said but he already had his full attention on the kid who was now hiding behind Jill. “Hello!” Lance said cheerfully and waved at the kid. “My names Lance. We are going to be friends from here on out!”

 

Lance had expected the kid to reply or even express gratefulness. It was always hard being in a new place and Lance figured at the minimum he was doing the kid a favor by being his friend. However, the kid’s lips pursed into a line and he looked the opposite direction as if he hadn’t heard him.

 

Lance tilted his head to the side. Was the kid deaf? He was about to turn back to Jill to ask when Lacey came up to him. She had her black hair pulled back into a bun and a big smile on her face. “Hello, Lance. I see you took no time to come over.” Lance shrugged as if to neither agree nor disagree. “This is Keith.” She put her hand on Keith’s shoulder. “You will have to excuse him, it’s a very big day for him.”

 

“Oh yeah sure.” Lance leaned over to try and catch the kid’s eyes but he looked away again. Lance frowned but figured that maybe he was just shy. His best friend Hunk had been a little shy at first when they had met in kindergarten, but now that they were in 4th grade Lances outgoing personality had rubbed off on him. Hunk was still reluctant at times but still went on Lances crazy adventures. Lance figured he would do the same for this kid too.

 

“Okay. Well it’s nice to meet you Keith.” He paused a moment to see if he would finally say something but he never even turned his head to look at him. So, with a slight pout, he waved goodbye to Jill and Lacey and took off back across the street with only a brief look each direction.

 

The next time Lance had tried to talk to Keith was only a few days later. He had showed up the last place Lance had thought to see him: His school.

 

“Jill! Lacey!” Lance cried out when he saw the two of them walking to the school office with Keith walking between them. “What are you doing here? Is Keith going to go to school here?”

 

“Yes he is!” Jill said with a smile and she ruffled Keith’s hair. He made a move as if to make her stop and lifted his hands to fix his hair even though he didn’t actually seem that upset by the action. “We hope that you will help him out when he starts attending class.”

 

“Of course I will.” Lance's little chest puffed out. “I’m the king of this school after all!”

 

Both Lacey and Jill laughed but Keith just heaved a sigh. Lance's smile fell a little bit at that but he tried not to take it personally. It probably wasn’t directed at him after all.

 

They both waved goodbye and they continued on their way to the office and Lance watched them go thinking once again he hadn’t gotten Keith to say a single thing to him.

 

That Friday after Keith had showed up at their School Hunk came over play. The two of them usually got together on Fridays since they were really the only close friend the other had. That specific day Lance had been telling Hunk all about Keith as they played the Lego Star Wars game on his play station 2.

 

“He wouldn’t talk to you though?” Hunk asked after hearing Lance’s whole store. He didn’t look at Lance as he talked, his eyes glued to the screen as he bit his lip in concentration. He was trying to use his Lego lightsaber to cut down the storm troopers coming into the room after them.

 

“No he wouldn’t! I’m thinking its cause he’s shy. The Kogane’s told me that he will be coming to school on Monday though so he’s going to have to talk to me then!” Lance was running around shooting boxes and collecting the Lego pieces despite the fact he should have been helping Hunk out.

 

“Yeah I’m sure that’s it.” Hunk said with a snort.

 

Lance paused the game, dropped the controller, and gave Hunk the most offended look with his hand pressed to his chest. “Excuse me what are you trying to say Hunk? My best friend in the world who would never imply anything bad about me.”

 

Hunk couldn’t help but laugh before he tried to answer. “No I’m not! You know you are my best friend! All I’m saying is that sometimes you come on a little strong. Did you get up in his face and talk rapid fire like you did with me?”

 

Lance crossed his arms at this point and turned his nose into the air. “I did not! I was very calm and composed.”

 

“Okay! I believe you! You are a perfect gentlekid. Can you unpause the game now?” Hunk bumped Lance with his shoulder which made Lance smile. He could never pretend to be mad at Hunk for long.

 

“Yeah sure. But you just watch. This Monday I’m going to have the kid begging to be my friend!”

 

Come Monday, that wasn’t really the case. Lance had sat down in his seat and instantly started bouncing. He was excited to finally get to meet Keith and he was already thinking about what they could do at recess. When Keith walked in he went straight to the teacher and Lance followed him with his eyes. He tried to wave but he never looked in his direction. Lance watched with a huff as he spoke to the teacher and then the teacher took him over to a seat that was at the group Hunk was in. Lance could see Hunk say hello and wanted more than anything to be over there too. Especially when Keith said a small hello back and sat down.

 

Lance was a little surprised to see how easily Keith had responded to Hunk but pushed it off figuring that he had just been shy the last two times and that he would respond the same to him.

 

“Hello class.” Their teacher said once everyone was in the room and sitting down. “As you may have noticed we have a new student today. His name is Keith and I expect you all to welcome him and help him with anything he needs to get caught up and be comfortable.”

 

“Yes Mrs. Emery.” The whole class but Keith chimed in response which put a big smile on her face.

 

After that class moved on and he kept seeing Hunk talking to Keith. Keith only spoke in short words or phrases from what Lance could tell but it still made him more and more jealous the more he saw the two talk. When it was finally time for recess Lance practically ran over to where they were sitting.

 

“Keith!” Lance called. “Do you remember me?”

 

Keith stared at him for a few seconds before he muttered. “Yeah.”

 

Lance felt like his whole body was glowing with how happy he felt to finally get Keith to say something to him. “Cool cool! Do you want to hang out at recess with me and Hunk today?”

 

Keith looked over at Hunk who gave him a reassuring smile before turning back to Lance. “With both of you?”

 

“Yeah of course! Me and Hunk are the best of friends! We play games together every recess with some other kids.”

 

Keith looked them both over again before he turned to Hunk completely ignoring Lance. “I don’t really feel like playing so I’m just going to talk to the teacher.”

 

“Okay yeah no problem, maybe next recess you can join us.” Hunk said without missing a beat but Lance was staring at them in complete shock. He had been the one talking to Keith, why had he ignored him to talk to Hunk?

 

“I’ll think about it.” He said before he stood up and went over to the teacher.

 

“What the heck was that?” Lance squeaked looking after Keith.

 

Hunk shrugged. “Not sure. But let’s go out before we miss any more recess.”

 

Exiting the room the two of them made their way to the playground and while Hunk had already seemed to put the whole thing behind him Lance was stuck.

 

“Maybe I intimidate him?” Lance said suddenly and Hunk was lost for a second before he caught up with Lance’s brain.

 

“Maybe? I don’t know. I don’t think you’re very intimidating.” Hunk was nothing but truthful and Lance usually liked this but he sometimes wished he would lie for the sake of his feelings.

 

“That’s cause you are like the most intimidating kid I know. You got the build of a bully from a cartoon.” Lance patted Hunk of his broad chest and Hunk looked down as if to confirm what Lance was saying.

 

“Do I?” he said in a small voice as he slowed down to almost a crawling pace.

 

“Yeah but down worry. You are too sweet and lovable to have anyone ever think you could hurt a fly.” Hunk seemed to be relieved at that and the pep was put back into his step. “But if it’s not that then why won’t Keith talk to me? Is he really that shy?”

 

“I don’t think he’s shy.” Hunk replied as they finally reached the grass field where the met the other kids from other classes. “I talked to him and he was actually very talkative despite the brief sentences.”

 

“Really? What did he tell you?”

 

“He told me that he moved here from a few towns over. I asked him if he had been adopted before and he told me he had moved from house to house for a while but this was the first time his situation was permanent.”

 

“Wait?” Lance's eyes blew wide open. “You guys talked about that kind of stuff? Why would he even move from place to place?”

 

“You don’t know a lot about being adopted do you?” Hunk said as if he was the expert and that made Lance blow his cheeks full of air a little angrily.

 

“No. why do you?” he huffed.

 

“Well, kind of. A few years back my aunt adopted an older kid. He’s like 17 now. I was only in second grade at the time but I had asked my mom a lot of questions and she told me about this thing called foster care. When no one wants to adopt a kid they get to stay with families for a little while till there is someone who is able to take them in forever.”

 

“Foster care?” Lance repeated slowly. He had never heard that word before but Hunk was a lot smarter than him so he decided to believe that he wasn’t just making it up. “Why did Keith tell you all that though?”

 

Hunk shrugged and took a step towards the group of kids that was now yelling at them to hurry up. “Who knows? I’m not him.”

 

With that Hunk ran off and Lance had no choice but to take off after him.

 

The game of the day was tag but Lance couldn’t get into it. He was too busy thinking about Keith and the mystery of why he seemed to be ignoring him. Lance was a popular kid. He was funny and he came up with fun games and he was friends with a lot of people. He wasn’t used to not being instantly liked. It was an understatement to say it was bothering him.

 

The rest of the day Lance tried to strike up a real conversation with Keith but nothing seemed to work. In fact the more Lance talked the less Keith responded to him. By the end of the day Lance felt on the edge of tears. He just wanted to be liked and he didn’t understand what was wrong with him.

 

On the bus home he sat with Hunk and looked around to see if Keith was on the bus but quickly figured that Keith was one of the kids who got picked up. When he got off on his stop waving goodbye to Hunk Lance found that Keith was already there. Instead of running over to talk to him Lance silently went into his house.

 

Days and weeks went by with Keith talking to him bare minimum. He continued to open up to Hunk and a few other kids in the class but he seemed to dislike Lance the most. The more this happened the more Lance got worked up about it. There was even one night after Keith had told Lance he didn’t want to do the reading together with him when he had asked to partner up that Lance went to his mom crying. He didn’t care at that point what his brother and two sisters thought or that they would probably make fun of him later. Lance just didn’t get why things were not going his way.

 

It was about four months after Keith had arrived that Lance went up to him at recess. “So you not like me or something?” He asked loudly for all the kids around them to hear.

 

Keith blinked at him for a few second before he responded flatly. “Yeah, I don’t like you.”

 

This had taken Lance back. His plan had mostly been to call Keith out on his bluff and after figuring out what was wrong they would become best friends. This was the exact opposite.  “W-why?” Lance asked, his throat becoming clogged even though he tried to remain calm.

 

“You’re annoying.” Was all Keith said. It took all of Lance’s strength to turn around and walk calmly to the bathroom before he burst into tears. He had stayed there all recess despite Hunk trying to get him to come out. When recess was over Hunk had gone to the teacher and told her that Lance was in the bathroom. She had come in and finally got him to unlock the stall and took him to the office. After talking to him calmly she told the office ladies to send him back when he was calmed down completely.

 

It was from that day forth that Lance decided that Keith was his sworn enemy.

 

After that Lance took it upon himself to try and beat Keith in everything they did. He had to show everyone that he was better than Keith. Keith could reject him and say he didn’t care about him but he was going to make Keith wish he hadn’t refused to be his friend. It went from School work, to P.E., to recess, to even who could make it to the classroom first if they ran into each other in the morning. At first Keith had continued to ignore Lance and his antics but the more that Lance taunted him the more fired up and angry he got and the more Keith pushed back. By the time they were in 5th grade they were each others sworn enemy.

 

It was also in the fifth grade that Lance’s social life took a turn for the better. Lance had a lot of friends but none of them was the best friend material he was craving. Yeah Hunk was the best friend he could ask for but he wanted more. That came in the form of electronics.

 

One day his family got a new computer and the old one was given to the kids to use. Each kid got an hour a day and could do anything they wanted for that hour. This was when Lance was introduced to the wonders of Neopets. What ten year old didn’t want to make their own little customizable animal and spend all day playing mini games?

 

Lance played under the name TheCoolestKid728 and had picked a blue Kougra that pretty much looked like a blue tiger but Lance loved it saying it looked fierce. He named her TigreAzul which was just Spanish for blue tiger. When Hunk had asked about the name he had claimed it was unoriginal which got Lance ignoring him till he took it back.

 

Hunk, on the other hand, had chosen the handle Meat4life and picked a yellow Korbat who he had named Manapua which was Hunks favorite food that his mother made that came from their culture in Hawaii. There was a point that they both pointed out how lame each other’s names were but quickly moved on challenging each other to get better scores on the games.

 

It was in the messaging boards on there that they had run into a player named MotherbordDestroyer who had a green Eyrie named Rover. Neither of them knew what a motherboard was or how you would destroy it but the person behind the account not only had tons of money and the rare pets, they seemed to know all the little tricks and hidden things on the site. The three of them started talking and instantly became good friends. Even later when they found out the kid was a girl named Katie who was 3 years younger than them and somehow way smart for a second grader they didn’t mind.

 

At school Lance liked to brag about his cool internet friend and how they helped them get really cool stuff on Neopets. One day Keith had muttered how lame Neopets was which led to the two of them trying to fight on the playground before the teacher on duty broke them up.

 

Years flashed by much the same. Keith, Hunk, and Lance all ended up going to the same middle school and while they didn’t always have classes together they somehow managed to yell at each other and compete in the cafeteria, at recess, or on the bus now that his parents could no longer pick him up and drop him off.

 

When they got into high school Lance got a laptop for his 14th birthday. He had been begging his mom for ages after his 17 year old brother had gotten one. The very first thing he did was download steam. The old computer all his siblings had shared was incapable of keeping up with online gaming and Lance instantly downloaded Team Fortress 2. He loved playing scout and now with the new username MemeKing Lance dominated with Hunk as TheMasterChef who played heavy and Katie who asked to be called Pidge who went as BirdBabe and played as Spy.

 

The more the three of them played they started running into a three player team that went by SpacePrincess, TheChampion, and RedLion. The team was just as good as them and they found themselves going head to head a lot. The other players who got thrown into matches with them were always shocked at how hard they all went at each other.

 

Finally, in the chat one day TheChampion sent a message that read:

 

**TheChampion: We should play on the same team some time.**

 

The competitive side of Lance wanted to tell him no but Hunk could type faster than him and before he could even start it popped up.

 

**TheMasterChef: Yeah sure! I’ll open a new game and invite you.**

 

He was kicked out of the screen and before he knew it he was playing on the same team as them.

 

Lance wasn’t so sure about teaming up with these people at first. Especially not the RedLion.  The RedLion and him had always seemed to go after each other. They liked to play as the sniper. Lance would just be running along when he would suddenly be shot out of nowhere. Even now as a team they sometimes started shooting each other which usually ended in their team losing. But after about a year of them all playing games together they lost their competitiveness.

 

The six of them got close enough that they had a Skype group chat they texted in all the time. Sometimes it was to plan times to play a game or just to talk about their lives and random things. Lance, living up to his name as the MemeKing liked sending memes in the chat which always made the RedLion send frowning emoji’s.

 

However, un-expectantly, the friends he had made online were the best friends he had made. He texted TheChampion when he was having troubles and he always had good advice. He talked about Fashion with SpacePrincess and she always chided him for the way he tried hitting on people. She always told him it was no wonder he was never able to get a date. And then RedLion and him confided in each other with things they felt that no one would understand. Lance trusted Hunk with his life. He had known him for 11 years for god’s sake, but that didn’t mean that there were some things it was easier to tell someone when you didn’t know their face.

 

He could remember one important conversation he had had with him a few months after they had become friends that had really concreted his trust in him.

 

**MemeKing: Hey... can I tell you something that’s been on my mind for a long time?**

**RedLion: If you try to make this sound important and just send me a meme so help me God I will track you down and kill you.**

**MemeKing: First of all you know memes are great. The world could not function without memes.**

**MemeKing: But no this is actually really important. Like I’ve never told anyone else this before.**

**RedLion: …**

**RedLion: Not even TheMasterChef? I thought you guys were best friends.**

**MemeKing: No we are, but I just haven’t yet. Not because I don’t want to or anything. I’m just kind of scared to say it out loud?**

**RedLion: Okay yeah I understand. It’s easier to type something then say it. You can tell me anything.**

**MemeKing: Okay…here it goes...**

 

**MemeKing: I’ve been thinking for a long while and I think I like guys?**

**MemeKing: But I also like girls still.**

**MemeKing: Is that a thing?**

 

RedLion’s little typing bubble had popped up and disappeared a few times as he tried to figure out what to type.

 

**MemeKing: You’re killing me here dude. Please just say anything.**

**RedLion: Shit sorry.**

**RedLion: I was just trying to think if I should tell you in return.**

**MemeKing: Tell me what?**

**RedLion: Well first off let me tell you that liking girls and guys is totally a thing. It’s called being Bisexual. Have you heard that before?**

**MemeKing: Barely. I think I’ve seen it mentioned online before.**

**RedLion: Okay yeah well that’s what it is and it’s totally normal. I think you should look it up and read into it a little. That’s at least what I did.**

**MemeKing: What you did when?**

 

**RedLion: Well that’s what I was debating if I should tell you. But I guess at this point what does it matter?**

**RedLion: I’m actually gay.**

**MemeKing: You are? When did you figure it out?**

**RedLion: I was a lot younger. Probably 6 th grade.**

**MemeKing: Wow. That was 4 years ago.**

**RedLion: Yeah well everyone is different. It doesn’t really matter how long it takes you to figure it out as long as you figure it out eventually. Right?**

**MemeKing: yeah… you’re right. Thanks for making me feel good about this. I was worried you would hate me or something. I think I’m going to go tell TheMasterChef now.**

 

They had talked about it for a little while longer and then after that, with renewed confidence, Lance had gone and told Hunk. When that had gone super well he had then later come out to the rest of his friends. BY doing so he had found out that Pidge was asexual and that SpacePrincess was also bisexual. It had made Lance feel a lot better knowing that he wasn’t all alone.

 

Years later Lance was now a senior in High School. Lance had taken a fairly loaded schedule with advances classes to get college credits but not near as many as Hunk was taking. He had a lot of classes with Keith though and they still fought all the time. They battled to try and get better grades and to do the best in sports. Lance swam and Keith did Fencing and both tried to place higher than the other could in their own tournaments. Lance had tried to challenge Keith to online gaming but he had refused. Lance had wildly claimed it was because Keith was afraid but Keith had just rolled his eyes and told him if that’s what made him feel better.

 

However, despite their clear hatred for each other the two of them actually hung out. Lance was sure that it was mostly because Keith and Hunk were on friendly terms. Lance wouldn’t have even tolerated it but Hunk seemed to like it and the only time he actually had to deal with him was at lunch time.

 

Lance found their lunch conversations entirely boring too. Despite everything Keith was a reserved guy. He never went too deep into his life except talking about his moms and being an orphan for a while. He never talked about what he did in his free time or his likes and dislikes. Lance told himself he didn’t care about Keith all that much. Keith for sure didn’t care about him.

 

It was lunch in the middle of the week when Keith was throwing rude comments at Lance and Lance was throwing them back that he finally pulled away from the conversation and pulled out his phone to open his Skype app. He instantly pulled up the chat box with RedLion and started typing.

 

**MemeKing: God the Asshole TM is at my lunch table again. He needs to stop trying to steal my best friend away from me.**

 

RedLion didn’t always respond right away and this was one of those times. So instead Lance had pulled out some homework opting to do it then so he had more time for gaming when he got home. He got deep into the work and had almost missed the notification from RedLion when he finally responded.

 

**RedLion: Shit him again? Why does TheMasterChef put up with him?**

**MemeKing: He’s never had to deal with his nasty side. No one could ever be mean to TheMasterChef. He’s too much of a big ole teddy bear. Plus… I’m man enough to admit I’m not the nicest to him either. TheMasterChef just tells me that if I’m nice to the Asshole TM that he will be nice to me.**

**RedLion: True. You are the biggest shit head I know. Not even I can stand you sometimes. But would he be?**

**MemeKing: NO!!!!!! I tried before. I went into the relationship trying to be nice but did he take that kindness and return it??? HELL NO!!!!!**

**MemeKing: I’m also ignoring the shit head comment because I know you love me and would miss me if I ever disappeared.**

**RedLion: Oh yeah right you told me about this.**

**RedLion: Also keep dreaming about that one.**

**MemeKing: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY you take that back!!!**

**MemeKing: say you would miss me!!!**

**MemeKing: Sayyyyyyy it.**

**RedLion: God fine okay.**

**RedLion: I would miss you.**

**RedLion: Happy?**

**MemeKing: :* of course thank you.**

**MemeKing: Everyone needs their daily dose of the MemeKing.**

**RedLion: I wish you could see me rolling my eyes right now.**

 

Suddenly the bell rang and Lance realized that the lunch break was over. He looked up to see Keith sliding his phone in his pocket while he still chatted away with Hunk about some advance science class they were both taking together.

 

“See you later Hunk….Asshole.” He said to both of them before he turned to leave. He saw a flash of Keith’s middle finger and threw one over his shoulder in return as he took off.

 

God Lance wished Keith would just fall off the face of the earth. Or better yet if he just found a Clan of other Keith’s and they could all go to an island and sit around being dicks as they braided each other’s mullets. Lance would pay to see that happen.

 

Well whatever. Lance made it to class and pushed Keith out of his mind. He had much better things to think about. He had a game of Overwatch planned with the squad that night. Among other games throughout the years the six of them had continued to play team fortress two but when Overwatch had been released the six of them had made no hesitations to jump over. He remembered them forming a team the first time they had played and talking over the voice chat as they all tried out characters till they found ones they liked

 

Lance, of course, had picked Tracer as his main. He really did enjoy her cheer and the way she could zip around. It helped a little that she had been the character they had used to promote the game. Hunk had picked Lucio, Pidge used black widow, SpacePrincess used Mei, TheChampion picked Hanzo, and RedLion being the emo he was used Reaper. They made a pretty bad ass teamed no matter what character they picked.

 

The six of them actually had planned to play a game or two after dinner and Lance was excited to hear from his friends again. The only time they ever heard each other voices was when they played games. Lance had yet to actually see any of their faces or hear their real names even though it had been a few years.

 

He guessed there was a sort of charm of not actually knowing who they were but Lance yearned to have a really great group of friends and he knew that would never happen till he knew as much as he could about all of them.

 

Lance couldn’t wait until the day he got to meet all of them. He was sure that it would be the best day of his life.


	2. Mental Stability? I Don't Know Her.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds himself struggling with some insecurities he's always had. It doesn't help that Keith is a major ass. On the plus side things seems to be getting closer with RedLion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me? Projecting on Lance? No way.....
> 
> So I can't help it but I gave lance my insecurities because I see a lot of my problems in him with being loud and funny to hide not liking myself very much and thinking everyone secretly hates me. Sorry if it's too much in this story.
> 
> I wrote most of this really late at night and so once again sorry if it's horrible. I also got out my phone and texted really quick to see what kind of typing errors I would get so it's authentic lol.
> 
>  
> 
> I also planned to get much farther in the story of this but my ideas and my actually writing never seem to match up so hey more contents I guess.
> 
> I hope you guys like this chapter and thank you so much for reading!

Time slid by like it normally did. He got up, went to school, came home, did homework, had dinner with his family, and then spent the night talking and playing games with his friends. One night when they were all dominating at Overwatch when Lance brought up the one thing he couldn’t drop.

 

“Hey. So we should video chat sometime soon.” He said casually as he zipped across the field to make it back to where all the action was.

 

He heard several groans. “Come on you know it isn’t going to happen.” Pidge said as her character rode on top of the payload as it slowly made its wait to the delivery point shooting at anyone who got close enough.

 

“But why?” Lance whined, his voice high and needy over thechat. “We have all known each other for like 3 years? I think almost four? I get at the beginning it was a whole internet safety thing but what’s holding us up now?”

 

The chat was silent for a few minutes before there was a deep sigh that was clearly from TheChampion. “You have to talk to RedLion about that one.”

 

It was quiet for a moment again before RedLion finally spoke up. “I just don’t want to okay? You guys can do it without me I don’t care. I just don’t feel comfortable giving out my name or letting you guys see my face.”

 

Lance instantly shot back without thinking. “Why? Are you afraid we will think you are ugly or something? Do you have intense face scars?”

 

“No!” Redlion instantly replied. Both of them almost missed when the payload finally reached the destination. “I’m not ugly. It’s just….I don’t want to have to see you.”

 

“See me?” Lance scoffed as Pidges Widow got play of the game. “I’m a mad handsome devil. Once you see me you will be mourning all the years you didn’t get to see this godly face.”

 

RedLion scoffed as if he didn’t believe Lance. “Yeah okay and that’s the other reason. You’re annoying. I can imagine having to look at your face while those annoying things come out of your mouth.”

 

“Annoying?” Lance echoed but all the playful bantering had left his voice. He barely heard RedLion keep talking as his mind swirled. It was an understatement to say that that hadn’t hit too close to home. Did he actually find Lance that annoying to the point he refused to face time him? Sure Keith called him annoying all the time but ussually he could tell when he was joking. This seemed a little to true.

 

When he came back to the conversation he realized everyone was quiet.

 

“MemeKing?” Hunk finally asked which made him realize they had all been waiting for him to say something.

 

“What? Sorry I got distracted by something out my window.” He lied trying to put the playfulness back in his voice.

 

“Did you want to play another round or did you want to keep trying to convince RedLion to skype you?” Hunk asked in a joking voice but Lance just wasn’t feeling it.

 

“No. I actually have to go…uh help my mom with chores. You guys can keep playing without me.”

 

“You sure?” SpacePrincess asked, having been quiet for the rest of the time Lance had almost forgotten she was there. “We can wait till you are done.”

 

“No it's okay I have a bunch of other stuff I have to do.” Lance assured her with his cheeriest voice he could muster.

 

“Okay. We'll miss you. Have fun doing chores.” She sounded genuine and it made Lance feel a little better but not enough to stick around.

 

Lance barked a small laugh. “I don’t think that’s even possible. Talk to you guys later.”

 

They all responded with goodbyes before Lance closed the game and migrated to his bed. He flung himself back so he was staring at the white ceiling with all the nasty looking bumps. His chest felt heavy and Lance couldn’t help but wonder if RedLion had really meant what he said.

 

It was probably a joke, he and Redlion were friends who got on well with each other 95% of the time, but that didn’t mean that Lance didn’t have secret fears. Lance was the type that used humor to hide his insecurities. He was aware of this at least. He was constantly afraid that everyone around him hated him, and he wasn’t exactly sure why. Maybe it was growing up with a big family. On top of his two sisters and brother he had aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents who constantly made appearances in his life. It was easy to get lost in the teasing and cruelty of childhood. He was used to the fights and the ganging up on each other but just because he was used to it didn’t mean he liked it. Especially when you’re a loud child who said a lot of stupid things and felt like the one who received 80% of the teasing.

 

All Lance wanted to be was liked. And even when he tried his hardest that usually wasn’t good enough. The only person in the world he felt really enjoyed having him as a friend was Hunk and he was waiting for the day that his voice got too loud or he said something stupid or accidentally bossed Hunk around one time too many. Hunk was probably going to get tired of him and leave. He assumed that’s why his only other close friends were online. They didn’t know the full extent of how annoying Lance could be so they stuck around. Even Keith had instantly hated him probably for that reason. Or at least that’s the only one Lance could think of.

 

So was it really that farfetched to believe that Redlion had meant it? His brain sure didn’t think so.

 

Lance knew that when he got worked up like that he needed to talk to someone who had a better understanding of what others might think about him. Usually he went to Hunk or TheChampion with this kind of stuff but Lance felt that they would both sugar coat it and try to make him feel better. SpacePrincess was usually straight to the point with these kinds of things and could probably be helpful but Lance didn’t really want to drag her into his mess. So that left Pidge. She wasn’t afraid to tell you what was up and was usually genius enough to figure out what was going on with people around her.

 

Pulling his phone out Lance opened up their private chat.

 

**MemeKing: Hey are you still playing Overwatch?**

**BirdBabe: Nah, we didn’t really feel like playing much after you left. There was no one to yell in our ears about what was happening.**

Lance visibly flinched. Yeah, that sounded pretty annoying.

**MemeKing: Okay can I ask you something?**

**BirdBabe: Sure. Lay it on me.**

**MemeKing: Do you think I’m annoying?**

**BirdBabe: HA**

**BirdBabe: HAHAHA**

**BirdBabe: is this a joke?**

**BirdBabe: You’re the most annoying dude I know! You never stop talking, half the time I’m not sure if you even think about what you’re saying before you say it. Your so god damn loud all the time I don’t know how your throat is okay. Plus you send too many memes.**

 

Lance felt his heart plummet to the floor. His stomach swirled and clenched and he felt like he was sick. Somewhere deep down Lance had hoped Pidge would tell him he wasn’t annoying but who was he kidding? She was right. Now he just wanted to bury his head in his pillow and mope.

**MemeKing: Okay thanks.**

 

That was all he could get himself to type before he placed his phone on the side table and curled into himself.

 

God, why was he like this? Why did he have to be so annoying?  Why couldn’t he be chill? He really wished he could calm down and behave like a normal person. He wished that every moment he wasn’t trying to impress someone or trying to figure out what they thought about him and if they liked him. He wished that he had a filter and actually thought before he spoke and said the dumbest thing.

 

A buzz interrupted his train of thought and he figured it was Pidge again. He ignored it figuring it was her sending a snarky emoji or something. However, there was a buzz and then another and after five buzzes he picked his phone up to see what was going on.

 

**BirdBabe: What… did you just say thank you to me giving you a sick burn? Aren’t you supposed to defend your honor as TheCoolestKid728?**

**BirdBabe: Lance my dude. What’s going on right now? You’re not even yelling at me for bringing up your horrible username**

**BirdBabe: you are making me worried. You’re not even reading these.**

**BirdBabe: Is something wrong?**

**BirdBabe: Lance. Do not ignore me right now I’m worried about you.**

Lance stared down at the messages and debated about just setting it back down. He really didn’t feel like getting into it with her. He had asked and he had received and it wasn’t her fault he didn’t like what he had heard.

 

**MemeKing: Yeah don’t worry about it sorry to have bothered you.**

**BirdBabe: Lance Meme McClain don’t you dare pull that kind of crap with me.**

**MemeKing: Meme? Do you not know my middle name?**

Despite his bad mood he couldn’t help but laugh at that one.

**BirdBabe: No I don’t but that’s beside the point. I know there is something going on with you. Is it about being annoying? You know I was mostly joking, right?**

**MemeKing: Key work: mostly**

**BirdBabe: So that is it! My god Lance. You should know that you’re not actually that annoying? Sure you have flaws which include being loud and thoughtless sometimes but you know none of us hate you for that right? Like, it would be so easy to block you and never talk to you again if we didn’t like you. You’re not annoying Lance. At least not more annoying than anyone else.**

Lance looked down at the words and he didn’t know what to say or how to feel. He wanted to take these words at face value but he couldn’t entirely push what she said earlier out of his mind.

 

**MemeKing: You’re just saying that.**

**BirdBabe: Lance**

**BirdBabe: My Sweet precious boy.**

**BirdBabe: When have I ever lied to you?**

**BirdBabe: Never**

**MemeKing: What about that one time you sent me a link to a photo of what you claimed to be the hottest guy on earth but was actually a rick roll?**

**BirdBabe: Okay yes I did lie that time but you loved it and you know it you meme trash.**

**MemeKing: Yeah you got me on that one.**

**BirdBabe: So we can agree that I’ve never lied about anything IMPORTANT**

**MemeKing: There is a first for everything.**

Lance couldn’t help himself. Part of it was his competitive nature and the other was the ingrained insecurity rearing its ugly head.

**BirdBabe: Holy crap I’m about to drive over and slap you.**

**MemeKing: You’re like what….15? Can you even drive yet?**

 

**BirdBabe: I got my drivers permit. I’ve driven a couple of times under adult supervision. I'll break the law to come give you a well-deserved ass whooping.**

**MemeKing: Next question. How tall are you again? I believvveeeee when you sent me and Hunk that Photo of you and your brother you were like 5 foot something. Maybe even shorter? You looked like at least a whole foot shorter than me.**

**BirdBabe: Are you saying I wouldn’t be able to kick your ass? Cause if so you got another thing coming to you.**

**BirdBabe: WAIT**

**BirdBabe: You sneaky ass**

**BirdBabe: You are trying to distract me.**

**MemeKing: ….No idea what you are talking about.**

**BirdBabe: Let me refresh your memory. You were sad, I’m guessing after the RedLion said you were annoying, you started thinking about it too much, got sadder, you went hey my buddy Pidge is blunt she will tell me if I’m annoying, then my ass not realizing you were upset made it worse and now you won’t listen to me because you want to be upset about it.**

 

Lance spluttered, spit spraying onto his phone. How was she so god damn smart? She had hit it right on the head.

**MemeKing: Okay…. You got me. But you were right the first time? I’m so god damn annoying. Like I don’t know how people stand me. Sorry that I can’t just accept that I’m somehow not annoying after you yourself had the receipts.**

**BirdBabe: Lannceeee. God, I’m not good at this kind of stuff. Can we get Hunk or TheChampion in on this? They could word this way better than me.**

**MemeKing: No thanks. And if you do I won’t play Splatoon with you ever again.**

**BirdBabe: What**

**BirdBabe: You would not.**

**BirdBabe: You bought that used Wii U Just to play that with me.**

**MemeKing: Okay wrong. I also got it because of Smash Bros, Mario cart, and Bayonetta 2 but that’s just how dang serious I am. I will cut you off.**

**BirdBabe: You know two of those games you just listed are also games we play together.**

**MemeKing: Fine**

**MemeKing: CUT OFF FROM ALL.**

**MemeKing: I’ll play them all with Hunk when he comes over instead.**

**BirdBabe: Fine I won’t.**

 

**BirdBabe: Just hear me out then.**

**BirdBabe: You know that we hardly ever play games without you right? When you’re not there something just doesn’t feel right. It’s like we need you to make the game the most fun it could possibly be. You bring something to our friend group that no one else could. Your funny and you make us laugh but it’s more than that. You make all of us feel welcome and like we are having a good time. I wouldn’t have stuck around for 7 years if I didn't like you. 7 years Lance. You are the first real friend I made outside of my brother because he doesn’t count. I like you as a friend and I would not be here talking to you if I thought you were annoying.**

Lance once again didn’t know what to say. Pidge wasn’t usually this emotional with him. Their relationship was usually playful like a pair of siblings. They had even skyped before and the first thing that she had said was that he had acted just like she had thought he would which was the biggest dork on earth. They had continued to bicker with Hunk rolling his eyes in the background. Their relationship was one of the best things that had ever happened to Lance and that’s why he knew in the end he had to trust her.

 

**BirdBabe: Do you want me to call you? Maybe if you hear me I can reach your brain.**

Pulling himself together he started typing back.

**MemeKing: No. I think I get it now. Thanks Pidge. You are the best. I’m feeling a lot better.**

**BirdBabe: Of course.**

**BirdBabe: And if I can say one more thing.**

**BirdBabe: If RedLion saying that kind of thing meant so much to you maybe you should talk to him.**

**MemeKing: Talk to him about what?**

**BirdBabe: About your insecurities you know? RedLion doesn’t hate you. He may be very private with his information but he thinks of you as a friend and he would never actually want to hurt you. I’m sure he would apologize and never do it again if he knew what was going on.**

 

**MemeKing: Yeahhhhhhhh no way is that happening. I knew he was joking. We have that kind of relationship. I don’t want him to think I’m a baby by getting worked up about it.**

**BirdBabe: Ummmm but that’s not being a baby??? You have emotions and you have the right to feel them. That doesn’t make you weak or anything dumb like that.**

**MemeKing: Still.**

**BirdBabe: Okay…. Well just think about it yeah? Maybe you can think about it as a bonding moment.**

**MemeKing: lol yeah okay I will.**

Lance set his phone down feeling slightly better. His chest wasn’t as heavy as before. There was a small part of him (big part of him) that thrived on the praise. Hearing that Pidge thought games were not as fun without him flamed the ego inside of him which was what Lance found so odd. One second he could be worried about everyone hating him and as soon as someone was nice to him he was practically in love with them.

 

Not that he could ever be in love with Pidge cause eww?

 

He was a slut for attention and validation and perhaps that actually did go hand in hand with his issues. If he wasn’t going to believe that he was great he needed other people too, right?

 

Lance rolled over so his face was smashed into his pillow. He felt like a god damn therapist trying to psychoanalyze himself. He could practically imagine him sitting on a couch with a clipboard and glasses looking down at another version of himself laying on one of those couches that were not actually part of therapy.  The image actually made him crack a smile.

 

After that he decided to get out of bed. dinner was soon and he was extra hungry after being emotional.

 

The next day the group was playing league of legends which was actually Lance’s least favorite of the games they played. Mostly because he just couldn’t get good at it. The controls of the game just were not his thing and he would much rather be playing Overwatch. However, sometimes he was a good person and when his other friends wanted to play a game he didn’t like he still did it. True sacrifice if he thought so himself.

 

When it got later in the night people started breaking off. First it was TheChampion. Being in college he had a lot more homework than the rest of them. SpacePrincess also logged off soon after claiming that she had work early in the morning. From their own private chats Lance had learned that SpacePrincess worked in her family’s restaurant and did online classes. He found this almost funny that he knew this but not her name. After that Pidge left to eat an extremely late dinner with her family and then Hunk to go to bed since he needed at least nine hours a night. At the end just Lance and the Redlion were left.

 

**MemeKing: You going to bed?**

**RedLion: Nah, it’s only like 8.**

**MemeKing: that’s right you stay up till like two am the earliest.**

**MemeKing: You’re in school right? Like how do you survive? How old are you even?**

 

Lance knew that he was in high school but wasn’t sure his exact age. It was information like that he only ever got out of him on accident. For instance at first Lance hadn’t even known RedLion’s Gender. He had only accidentally revealed it in a story he was telling in the group chat. Of course that had been years ago and he was a little more open at this point but there were still things he kept locked tight.

 

**RedLion: None of your business. You can keep asking all you want but I will never tell you.**

**MemeKing: Which is the weirdest thing ever.**

**MemeKing: Are you afraid I’m going to steal your identity or something?**

 

Another big part of their relationship was the constant guessing games. Lance was always trying to get some kind of information out about the dude. Not even SpacePrincess and TheChampion knew a ton about RedLion outside of the conversations they had and the little tidbits of information of his life they got that usually were not anything super important. Lance had asked a few months after becoming friends with the trio why they didn’t even know each other’s names. When Pidge, Hunk, and him had become close they had instantly swapped names and photos and group skyped. TheChampion had explained it was a comfort thing for Keith and him and the SpacePrincess had gone along with it figuring it didn’t actually matter that much. After that for some reason it had become a normal not to exchange names or photos between the six of them. It had been some kind of loyalty to Redlion he guessed. Some days Lance thought about just sending his face along with his name out to the three of them but for some reason he got scared when tried to actually do it. Maybe he was really the one scared that they would all think he was ugly.

 

**RedLion: No not you. I don’t think you're smart enough for that.**

**MemeKing: Who then…BirdBabe?**

**Redlion: Well she probably could if she wanted but no. Let’s drop this okay.**

**MemeKing: Ohhh no I got this.**

Lance giggled as he typed.

**MemeKing: It’s the government isn’t it? Tell me do you have tape over the camera on your laptop?**

 

Lance had seen it before. He had a crazy uncle who heavily believed that the government was watching him through his phone and computer camera. He had both covered in tape. Lance had always wondered why the government would specifically care about what his uncle was doing. He never dared to ask him this though. Lance figured even if the government was watching him then all they saw was his face, possibly covered in chip crumbs, staring dully at the screen.

 

Lance was thinking about this when he realized the RedLion hadn’t responded. He waited a few extra minutes before he tried again.

 

**MemeKing: Dude. Answer me or I’m for real going to think that you are afraid of the government watching you.**

 

A few more minutes passed by with still no response. Lance would have figured that he had just gotten busy if there wasn’t a read stamp under his messages.

 

**RedLion: You can’t prove that they are not**

 

The text finally popped up and Lance lost it. Laughter ripped from his mouth and he started rolling around on his bed. This was just way too much.

 

**MemeKing: HOMY SHIT I CAT BELIVE THIS ARE YOU NESSING WITH ME RIGHT BOW???? DO YOU TEALLY BELIVE THE GOVERNMENT IS OUR TO GRT YOU???**

 

Lances fingers were flying so fast that not even auto correct could save him from misspelled words. Lance sent it and waited in excitement to see what the guy would say back.

 

**RedLion: Think about it though??? The government wants to control us! There are legit articles online about this stuff.**

**MemeKing: I want to believe that this is a joke but it's real isn’t it?**

**MemeKing: WAIT HOLD THE PH NE IS THIS WHY YOI WONT SKPE US??? DO UOI THINK IF YOU SAY YOIR BAME OR SHOW YOU LR FACE THE TOVERNMNT IS GOING TO GET YOU???**

**RedLion: Okay you can just shut up. The government and me don’t get along so well. If there is any kind of chance the government is watching me then I’m not going to give those assholes anything.**

**MemeKing: Okay yeah you know what give me just a moment.**

 

As quickly as he could Lance switched over to the group chat not caring that everyone else was busy. This was important.

 

**Group Chat: Boss Ass Bitches**

**MemeKing: EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND LISTEN TO THIS.**

**RedLion: Please don’t.**

**MemeKing: NO EVERYONES GOTTA HEAR THIS ONE**

**TheMasterChef: This better be important enough to wake me up.**

**MemeKing: Believe me this is the best thing ever.**

**BirdBabe: Better than this dank ass mac-n-cheese I’m eating?**

**MemeKing: Hell yeah. Where is SpacePrincess and TheChampion? They need to be here for this.**

 

**MemeKing: Or do they already know?**

**MemeKing: ARE THEY IN ON IT??**

**MemeKing: PLEASE TELL ME THEY ARE IN ON IT THIS WILL BE EVEN BETTER.**

**RedLion: They are not so just drop it.**

**TheMasterChef: Please buddy what’s going on? I really want to go back to bed.**

**SpacePrincess: I’m about to put you all on do not disturb if this isn’t good.**

**MemeKing: Okay one more where is TheChampion.**

**TheChampion: I was hoping if I didn’t say anything you would just move on without me but I guess I’m wrong.**

**MemeKing: You are correct.**

 

**MemeKing: so get this**

**RedLion: Stop**

**RedLion: stop stop stop**

**Redlion: I will kill you**

**MemeKing: Yall know how Redlion won’t tell us like anything about himself?**

**SpacePrincess: Of course. That’s all you ever talk about.**

**MemeKing: it’s not**

**MemeKing: but get this.**

**Redlion: Stop**

 

**MemeKing: I found out why!**

**Redlion: For the love of god if you say it I’ll explode.**

**MemeKing: HE THINKS THE GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO STEAL HIS IDENTITY.**

**BirdBabe: NO FUCKING WAY IS THAT TRUE???**

**BirdBabe: THAT’S HILARIOUS**

**BirdBabe: I mean I’m all about conspiracy theories. Bigfoot? Real. Mothman? Real. But the government?**

**BirdBabe: THAT’S TOO MUCH**

**RedLion: I hate you so much MemeKing**

 

**TheChampion: Is this real?**

**MemeKing: As real as I am.**

**MemeKing: he just told me.**

**SpacePrincess: I do NOT have the patience for this.**

**SpacePrincess: I’m going to bed**

**SpacePrincess: I will add that that is ridiculous though**

**SpacePrincess: goodnight.**

**BirdBabe: SAVVEEAGGEEEE**

**BirdBabe: even SpacePrincess thinks you’re crazy.**

**RedLion: I’m not crazy!!**

**TheMasterChef: Why though?**

**RedLion: The government wants to control us. They are watching us so they can monitor what we see and what information we put out. They want to manipulate us into being mindless sheep.**

**TheMasterChef: So why can’t you tell us your name or anything?**

**RedLion: I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing anything about me. I don’t want them to be able to use me in whatever twisted plans they have.**

**TheChampion: Do you have a Facebook or anything?**

**RedLion: HA**

**Redlion: you mean the worst website ever created? That place is just a trap for fools to willingly give out all their information.**

**TheChampion: I will take that as a no.**

**RedLion: I don’t use any site that tried to get my name or anything. If I have to use it I use a fake name.**

**MemeKing: NO WAY what’s the fake name???**

**RedLion: What do you take me for? An idiot?**

**RedLion: no way in hell I’m giving you my fake name**

**BirdBabe: Hey TheChampion**

**TheChampion: Yeah?**

**BirdBabe: Remember how you kept your identity a secret because Keith asked you to?**

**TheChampion: I sure do**

**BirdBabe: Do you want to change your mind on that?**

**TheChampion: um. I guess? If you really want to know.**

**RedLion: STOP RIGHT NOW DON’T ANY OF YOU DARE SAY YOUR NAMES.**

**BirdBabe: Hey calm down you don’t have to say yours.**

**TheMasterChef: Okay so I get this is like a big moment we have been talking to each other for years and wow its identity reveal time but can we do it maybe tomorrow? When we are all here and I’m not trying to sleep.**

**MemeKing: NO**

 

**MemeKing: WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT**

**TheChampion: He’s right.**

**TheChampion: I’m really busy so perhaps another time.**

**BirdBabe: damn. Okay. I guess I’ll go back to my mac-n-cheese now.**

**MemeKing: NO WAIT LETS KEEP THIS GOING**

**TheChampion: talk to you guys later.**

**TheMasterChef: Yeah night for the second time.**

**BirdBabe: Byyyeeeeee**

 

The chat activity stopped and Lance felt robbed. He had been so close. So god damn close to finding out more about his friends and HUNK of all people stopped it. He was going to get an earful from him the next day.

 

Lance sat there for a few seconds after mourning his loss. He didn’t know what to do with himself so he moved back over to the previous conversation.

 

**MemeKing: Hey want to play a game**

**RedLion: Are you serious with me right now?**

**MemeKing: ya why?**

**Redlion: You just pulled that kind of move on me and expect me to want to play a game with you?**

**MemeKing: ya**

**RedLion: …..**

**RedLion: I can’t believe you.**

**MemeKing: So?**

**RedLion: ….**

 

**RedLion: fine.**

**RedLion: What did you want to play?**

**MemeKing: Don’t starve together?**

**RedLion: just us?**

**MemeKing: Yeah we can start our own map just the two of us.**

**RedLion: yeah sure why not**

 

They both started up the game and switched over to voice chat. Lance liked to play Wilson because he was sort of the main guy and he was easy to use. Plus he liked that he grew a beard after a while. His friends always told him to shave it but it kept him warm god damn it. RedLion always played as Wendy and Lance really couldn’t figure out why. She looked soulless and was haunted by her dead sister. Perhaps RedLion was into that kind of stuff.

 

Once the game was up and running they found a place on the map that was pretty close to the gate and started building a house. They adventured off together to find supplies and shared when the other needed rocks or gold or even just food before they starved. Not too long after starting the game they had a house with rock walls and a flower crown on both of their heads.

 

“What’s your favorite movie?” Lance asked out of the blue after they had been playing for a little while.

 

“My favorite movie?” RedLion echoed seeming confused by the random question.

 

“Yeah. I want to know more about you. The government can do anything with that kind of information, can they?”

 

There was silence as RedLion thought. Finally there was a deep sigh. “You’re going to make fun of me if I tell you.

 

“I won’t I promise.” Lance said right away but realized soon after that when it came to RedLion he couldn’t actually guarantee that.

 

“It’s a movie I saw on Netflix called Room 237.” He said it slowly as if still trying to decide if he actually wanted to say it or not.

 

Lance had been waiting for him to say something completely ridiculous so it was almost a letdown when he didn’t know what he was talking about. “I’ve never heard of it. What is it about?”

 

There was a groan and another pause before RedLion spoke again. “It’s a movie about conspiracy theories okay? They made a lot of sense.”

 

Lance slapped his hand over his mouth not to laugh. Yup there it was. It was ridiculous after all.

 

“Maybe I’ll watch it sometime” Lance said with a wobbly voice trying to contain his laughter.

 

“Shut up no you won’t.” He snapped back and it was quiet for a few moments before Lance tried to restart the conversation

 

“You know there is one conspiracy theory I am absolutely certain is true.”

 

“Yeah?” his voice was piqued with interested but was also wary. Lance wouldn’t have put it past himself to turn this moment into a joke either if he hadn’t been one hundred percent serious

 

“Yeah. I’m sure you have heard it before too.”

 

“I’ve heard a lot of them so probably.” He said it as if he didn’t actually care but Lance could tell he was eager to hear what it was now that he figured Lance was being at least a little serious.

 

“Okay, here it is” Lance paused for dramatic effect before he dropped the bomb. “Avril Levine is totally dead.”

 

There was a loud gasp before he replied in a tiny voice. “She so is.”

 

From there the two boys started discussing excitedly about the death of Avril Levine and how her double had taken over for her and that’s why her look and music had changed so much. Eventually, their excitement died down and they went back to playing the game with their full attention.

 

It was a while later that RedLion spoke up in the middle of fighting a horde of spiders to get items they needed to build new objects.

 

“You never told me yours.”

 

“My what?” Lance had entirely no idea what he was asking considering they had just been chatting about nothing specific for the last few minutes.

 

“You favorite movie duh.” RedLion said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

 

“Oh. I didn’t think you cared about me!” Lance was just joking but RedLion responded seriously.

 

“Of course I care about you.” He seemed to regret it as soon as he said it because they both got crazy quiet.

 

“Um. It’s The Campaign.” Lance figured at that moment that what he said was something to store away to think about later. Considering RedLion was the least emotional out of all of them this was actually huge. He cared about Lance? Enough to actually tell him even if it was on accident? Lance might just die from how much emotion he was feeling.

 

It made sense that RedLion cared about him. They were friends. They cared about each other that’s just what friendship was. So why did his face feel so hot?

 

“The one with Will Ferrell?” he heard RedLion say and it pulled him back into the conversation and he realized he had stopped moving his character and he was about to die.

 

“Wow, I’m actually surprised you knew that one.” For some reason Lance figured RedLion was the type to be really ignorant about pop-culture.

 

“Yeah, I saw it.” He muttered and killed the last spider. “It was dumb.”

 

Lance gasped dramatically. “You take that back. Will Ferrell is a god and all his movies are masterpieces”

 

“Even Semipro?” the tone of his voice was smug as if he knew he had caught Lance.

 

“That one….” Lance looked for a word to use that would not give RedLion the satisfaction of being right. “has its own charms.”

 

There was a loud snort over the chat. “Sure you just tell yourself that.”

 

Lance scrambled to find something clever to say but he couldn’t help but agree that semipro only had a few great moments. “Well I’m just surprised that you have seen enough will Ferrell movies to know which one is the least great.”

 

“You can just say which ones the worst.” He teased

 

“And fall right into your trap? No way Jose.” Lance raised his hand and waggled a finger in the air even though he wouldn’t be able to see it.

 

“You are ridiculous” He could practically hear his eyes roll.

 

“You love it anyway.” Lance said smugly and started picking up items the dead spiders had left behind.

 

“No comment” He grumbled and Lance felt his face get even warmer

 

Did that mean he did love that he was ridiculous? Lance wasn’t sure what to do so he just did nothing and focused in on the game again. He could feel something boiling under his skin but at that point he didn’t know what it meant or why his chest felt a little funky.

 

They both moved on and got back into the game. They made an even grander house, fought off a horde of dogs that stole food from their garden and knocked down part of their outer wall, and complained as they tried to survive through the harsh winter. Time flew by and the later it got the more ridiculous their conversations became.

 

“Think about it my dude. If cats had eight legs that would be the craziest shit ever. They would be so dangerous with all those claws. I bet they wouldn't ever have been domesticated” Lance said as his eyes zeroed in on a turkey he was chasing on screen.

 

“Wait. Are they like a spider cat hybrid or are you saying that cats are born with eight legs? Also is this limited to house cats or every cat species?” RedLion at the time was on the other side of the map burning down a forest to make charcoal but he seemed really into the idea Lance was throwing out.

 

“Holy shit no wait spider cats yeah man.” Lance hadn’t even thought of it like that. He was pretty proud of RedLion of thinking of it. “Cats climbing up walls would be amazing. I think it would be all cats though. Imagine a lion with eight legs running in the wild. NO WAIT” A new idea hit him that got him really excited just thinking about it. “What about cheetahs? How fast would they be? They are already so fast. Would having so many legs make them faster than the human eye could possibly see?”

 

“What if it slowed them down?” RedLion countered thoughtfully. “What if it takes more effort to use all the legs?”

 

Lance mulled this over for a second but he was pretty sure he was right. “Okay but have you seen a spider move. I’ve had my eye on one and then turned to get a shoe and look back and that sucker was gone with a capital g.

 

“I guess you have a point.” RedLion agreed a lot easier than Lance thought he would be he guessed that just proved how right he was.

 

“I sure do.”

 

RedLion seemed to not even hear Lances remark and instead dived into another train of thought. “Okay so then if a cheetah can run 75 miles per hour then would double the amount of legs make it twice as fast? So 150 miles per hour?”

 

Lance finally got the turkey he had been chasing forever and got a nice chunk of meat from it. “I think if a cheetah could move that fast it would have to mutate so its body could withstand that kind of speed. Would this thing even be a cat still?”

 

“God. Your right. There is so much to this.” Redlion muttered as if truly perplexed by this issue. Lance was about to respond when he heard a loud and long yawn through his headset.

 

“Wait…did you just yawn?” Lance felt confusion as he started searching for his phone. He swore he had set it on his desk but at that moment it was missing in action.

 

“I did. Why is that a crime?” His sleepy voice was full of defense as if he thought Lance thought it was a crime to be tired.

 

“No. it’s just if you’re tired...” Finally grabbing his phone he flipped it over to read the time. It was three in the morning. “Yeah shit that’s what I thought.”

 

“What’s wrong?” his voice lost all defensiveness and seemed actually concerned.

 

Lance groaned and rubbed his hands down his face “Look at what time it is.”

 

“Oh fuck it's late. How are you even awake I thought you needed beauty sleep?” RedLion laughed a little bit but he still sounded kind of concerned for Lance.

 

“I sure as hell do.” Now that he knew what time it was he realized he actually was pretty tired. “And now I’m only going to get three hours of sleep. Three do you hear me?”

 

“Welcome to my world.” RedLion said a little bitterly and lance wasn’t sure if it was because he was complaining or if he hated that he stayed up that late.

 

“Okay but you are some kind of heathen vampire that doesn’t need sleep.” Lance poked fun at him trying to get him riled up a little like always.

 

“Heathen vampire?”  He sounded shocked but more disappointed with lances choice of insult. “You wanna go there?”

 

“Maybe a little” Lance laughed returning the atmosphere back to playful.

 

“Okay well every second you keep trying to make fun of me the less sleep you are going to get.” He reminded him and lance cussed under his breath.

 

“Damn you are right…” He paused before he added. “For once.”

 

“For once? Seriously.” RedLion sounded unamused but Lance could tell that he thought it was funny too.

 

“Yeah. Anyways good night, don't destroy our home while I’m gone.” Lance moved his character back into their house so he would know where he was the next time they played. He moved his mouse to get ready to close the screen

 

“I’m not going to keep playing.” He grumbled and his character finally stopped moving across the map.

 

“I know but I feel like it’s something you would do out of spite.”

 

“Whatever just go to bed.”

 

“Okay. Goodnight.” Lance said sweetly.

 

“Night.” He replied right before he exited the game before Lance could.

 

With that Lance closed down his game and ended the chat. Despite being royally fucked for the next day Lance was in a great mood. He couldn’t think of the last time he had spent so much time with just RedLion. It was nice since they could banter and bicker but they also could get into the most ridiculous conversations with each other. It felt like the best of both worlds.

 

Getting out of his computer chair Lance quickly changed and got into bed. Sinking into the covers he was fully hit with just how tired he was. His entire body seemed to sigh in relief and his eyelids began to droops even before he turned his lamp off.

 

He already knew the next day was going to be shitty.

 

And shitty it was. Waking up the next day was the hardest thing he had ever done. He had even considered sleeping through the day if not for his mom yelling at him to get up after he had snoozed his alarm three times. He barely had any time left to get ready and he realized there was no way he was going to be able to do his hair that morning.

 

He only had enough time to slip on some clothes and put toast in the toaster. He was half asleep as he walked out to the bus stop.

 

Being in a big family they didn’t have enough cars for everyone. Of course his mom and dad each got their own since they had the jobs. His older brother was going to the local community college and used his mom’s old car. That left his dad's old car for him and his older sister to share and since she left home to live with her boyfriend she had taken the car with her meaning that now Lance had no car unless he borrowed someone else’s. He remembered complaining to his parents that it wasn’t fair that the car he supposedly got to use didn’t even stay at their house but all his parents had said is that when he gets a job he can buy a car all for himself.

 

So not only did that suck but it also sucked that Keith Kogane didn’t have a car either. That meant that every morning they stared at each other from across the street as they waited for the bus. Lance tried not count this as a time they met since they tended not to speak to each other but it was still torture to be anywhere near him.

 

“You look like shit.” Keith called across the street that morning. He looked like he enjoyed that fact.

 

“Yeah well fuck off.” The response was far from clever but he was way too tired to do this with Keith.

 

Keith just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms and they both stood there not looking at each other.

 

When the bus finally did arrive Keith always waited for Lance to be getting on before he attempted to cross the street. When he did get on he always made sure he sat as far away from Lance as possible. He would usually pull out a book or his iPod and ignore the rest of the world. Lance, on the other hand, chatted with people around him. Most of them were underclassmen and Lance always teased them about being young when he wasn’t helping them out in some way. For some reason they thought him being a senior meant he had all the secrets to being in high school. Lance swung it as best as he could.

 

When the bus finally arrived all the students piled off and went their separate ways. Lance didn’t know where Keith was but he was glad that it wasn’t the same way as him. Lance always met Hunk in the mornings to chat before the bell rang and Lance enjoyed the fact that it was time with Hunk he didn’t have to share with Keith. Hunk was HIS best friend after all.

 

“Good morning Lance-whoah.” Hunk said greeting him till he got close enough to see his face. “You look horrible.”

 

“You’re not the first one to tell me that this morning.” Lance sighed and fell to sit next to Hunk on their usual morning bench under the building's stairs.

 

“What happened to you? You look like you haven’t slept in days which isn’t true since I saw you yesterday and you looked fine.”

 

Lance threw himself dramatically against Hunk. “I’m living proof that beauty sleep is real. I’m an absolute monster without my eight hours.”

 

“Did you stay up late? How late? 11?” Hunks chided him and that’s when he thought Lance had gotten 7 hours of sleep. He almost wanted to avoid telling him so he didn’t have to hear the disappointment that was bound to come.

 

“Uhhhhh.” Lances eyes rolled around to look at everything but Hunks face. They finally landed on a door to his right. “Try 3 am.”

 

“Three am??? Are you serious?” Hunk seemed almost impressed. “I didn’t think you could function past midnight. What were you doing?”

 

“I was playing games with RedLion and time kind of got away from us.” Lance said it softly and he almost thought Hunk hadn’t heard him.

 

“He played games with you even after you gave away his secret?” He was more amused than shocked. Usually when the two of them got into childish fights one would ignore the other for at least a few hours before they started chatting like nothing had happened.

 

“I was actually kind of surprised too. I guess he just likes me that much.” Lance meant to say it smugly but it came out genuine.

 

Hunk gave him a weird look but Lance barely noticed it. “So what did you guys talk about? Was it all fighting?”

 

“No. I mean obviously there was some fighting but a lot of it was talking. Like he told me his favorite movie and we talked more about who we were as people I guess? I think finding out about his government fears made him open up a little bit? But after that we just got into some weird shit.”

 

“Weird shit?”

 

“Yeah like cats with 8 legs.” Lance laughed under his breath at the memory of how seriously they talked about it.

 

“Wow. I guess you guys really bonded.” Hunk bumped his shoulder and gave him a bright smile.

 

Lance thought back to Pidge telling him to bond with RedLion and he realized that yeah he had been bonding with the dude and it had kind of helped him feel better about the whole thing. How weird. Thinking back he and RedLion had their fair share of bonding but something was different this time. Like it was more. Not just time wise because accidentally playing games with a guy for six to seven hours was just kind of insane. Maybe it was like it felt like both of them had thrown down their walls. You can’t have walls if you are hypothesizing about spider cats. Or at least Lance hoped you couldn’t.

 

Why did he hope that?

 

Right because RedLion was important to him.

 

“Well I’m glad that you guys didn’t fight after the whole government thing. I thought he was going to be mad at you for days but I guess it worked the opposite.” That same look was on Hunks face and Lance realized he was really thinking about something. Perhaps analyzing the situation.

 

“Awwww are you jealous? I swear that he won’t replace you!” Lance snuggled up to Hunks side as if trying to reassure him that Hunk was his favorite human on the planet.

 

Hunk just laughed in response, his whole body shaking. “I think you are more worried about Keith becoming my best friend than I am about RedLion becoming yours.”

 

Lance pulled away like he was burned. “Don’t say the devil's name in my presence.”

 

Hunk frowned. He looked like he wanted to say something, probably in defense of Keith, but he must have changed his mind because he just stood up instead. “Let’s start walking to class.”

 

“Whyyyyyy? You want to separate from me that quickly?” Lance complained but he still stood up and started walking with Hunk.

 

“I have to talk to my teacher so I need to get there a little early.” Hunk was a smart dude but he still liked running things by the teacher, especially his English teacher when he didn’t completely understand a passage they were working on. He was usually right but it didn’t stop him from going over it.

 

When they got to the point they separated they waved and Lance called dramatically that he would be counting down the seconds till they met again.

 

It was 4 class periods later that Lance slid into his seat across from Hunk at their lunch table. Hunk looked up absentmindedly before he visibly flinched.

 

“You look like death.” He commented, concern lacing his voice.

 

“I feel like death.” Lance croaked and pressed his face against the table. Every bone in his body hurt and it felt like his eyes were on fire. He needed sleep or he was sure soon he would actually die. “No man was meant to survive on so little sleep.”

 

“Are you going to be able to make it for the rest of the day?” Hunk reached across the table and placed a hand on his forehead as if to check that he wasn’t sick. When it wasn’t abnormally warm he pulled back still looking concerned. Hunk was such a good friend.

 

“Three hours left? Yea, I got this.” It was an obvious lie but Hunk didn’t get to call him out of it before Keith appeared

 

“You still look fucked up.” Keith laughed as he sat next to Hunk.

 

“Thanks for your great observation captain obvious.” Lance sneered halfheartedly. He couldn’t even raise his head to glare at Keith like he wanted to. Why did he always have to come and bring hostility to any situation? What was his deal? Lance was getting real tired of it especially in this moment.

 

“What did you do? Did you forget that you have to sleep?”

 

“Please shut up I can’t deal with you right now.” Lance was practically pleading. His head was starting to pound and he was so frustrated with everything. He just wanted peace and quiet and to maybe take a brief nap before he had to go back to suffering.

 

Keith didn’t agree with his plans. “I thought you prided yourself on your beauty sleep? And your dumb skin care routine? Where are they now when you look like something a cat threw up?”

 

Lance didn’t move at first. He hated that he felt his eyes burning from more than just being tired. He knew he was overreacting because he was just that tired but he couldn’t stop it. Instead of staying there and taking Keith making fun of how he looked and his routines he stood up and stared down both of them. He was kind of mad at Hunk to for not ever sticking up for him when Keith was being nasty and yeah that was usually cause Lance could stick up for himself but couldn’t his bro see he needed help?

 

“Okay yeah whatever you two have fun since you obviously like each other better than me.” He says bitterly and he could see the hurt flash across Hunks face that he instantly regretted. Instead of staying and repairing it he stormed off to find some corner to sleep in.

 

He ended up going to his next class because he knew it was empty since his teacher was also on lunch break and sat in his seat. Pulling his hood up he laid his head down and figured the teacher would wake him up when they returned.

 

Things went as he expected and about twenty minutes later he sat bleary eyes in his class doing everything in his power not to fall asleep again. He barely registered the buzz in his pocket that came near the end of class. Pulling his phone as discreetly out of his pocket as he could he checked to see who it was assuming it was Hunk but another name displayed on the screen.

 

**TheChampion: Hey are you okay?**

Lance stared down as his tired mind tried to process what was going on. Did Hunk talk to him or was he just checking in?

**MemeKing: I’m okay. Why?**

**TheChampion: TheMasterChef messaged me. Said you didn’t seem okay and that he didn’t think you would talk to him.**

Guilt shot through Lance again. He hated that he had insinuated that Hunk wasn’t a good friend to him.

**MemeKing: Yeah…I’m just tired.**

**TheChampion: there has to be more to it if you made TheMasterChef that concerned.**

**MemeKing: I just…**

**MemeKing: I guess I overreacted.**

**MemeKing: There is this asshole that TheMasterChef is friends with and we just don’t get along. I’ve told you about him yeah?**

**TheChampion: Yes. On many occasions. The Asshole TM right?**

**MemeKing: The one and only.**

**MemeKing: He showed up and was going at it with me like normal but I just couldn’t handle it.**

**MemeKing: And I guess I had wished that TheMasterChef would stop him or stand up for me. He was only calling me ugly but I still wanted him to back me up. Pick me over this guy. He didn’t though and I just pretty much said they liked each other more than me and left.**

**TheChampion: Hey, you actually know that TheMasterChef really cares about you right? He didn’t mean to hurt your feelings like that.**

**MemeKing: I know. I really do. I just can’t get my brain to actually believe it instead of just thinking he secretly hates me and liked having this guy say mean things to me.**

**TheChampion: TheMasterChef would never do that. He had stuck by your side for how many years? 13? Do you think he would still be around if he hated you?**

**MemeKing: If he feels trapped yeah.**

**TheChampion: Why would he feel trapped?**

**MemeKing: He’s such a nice guy I feel like he wouldn’t be able to tell me he doesn’t like me.**

**TheChampion: Do you think everyone thinks this about you?**

**MemeKing: …..**

**MemeKing: Maybe….**

**TheChampion: Well that’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard.**

**MemeKing: Hey!!!!! You are supposed to be the nice one. BirdBabe is the one that gets to be mean and helpful at the same time.**

**TheChampion: Sorry but it’s the truth.**

**TheChampion: Hey I got an idea how to prove it to you.**

**TheChampion: I know we were already talking about doing this but I want to show you that I like having you in my life and I want you to know more about me.**

**MemeKing: Waiiiittt are you saying what I think you are saying.**

**TheChampion: Probably. I’m going to tell you my name and send you my photo.**

**MemeKing: RIGHT NOW????**

**TheChampion: Is it a bad time?**

**MemeKing: I mean I’m in class but who cares please I’ve been waiting years for this.**

**TheChampion: Ha-ha okay just give me a second.**

 

After a second a picture showed up. It was of a man, probably in his early twenties. He had one of the most beautiful faces Lance had ever seen. His hair was short and black with a dyed white tuft of hair in the front. There was a scar that ran across his face over his nose but for some reason it made the man ever hotter. Lance felt his mouth go dry.

 

**MemeKing: SQUAD DAD IS SO HOT????**

 

**TheChampion: I’m not sure if I should be concerned that you just called me squad dad or if I should be flattered you called me hot.**

**MemeKing: Why not both?**

**MemeKing: I wish my dad was as beautiful as you.**

**TheChampion: I feel like this is getting into weird territory I for sure do not want to go into.**

**MemeKing: Blame it on the three hours of sleep I got last night.**

**MemeKing: Now give me the rest of the information. I need dat name boi.**

**TheChampion: Takashi Shirogane but I go by Shiro.**

**TheChampion: It’s nice to finally get to tell you who I am after so long.**

**TheChampion: Let’s just still not call each other by name in front of RedLion. He doesn’t want to know and I don’t want to force it on him.**

**MemeKing: See this is why you are the group’s dad. You’re always trying to take care of all of us**

**TheChampion: okay I guess I’ll take it as a compliment.**

**MemeKing: So want to know my name now?**

**TheChampion: Of course if you want me to know.**

**MemeKing: Hell yeah I do.**

**MemeKing: It’s Lance McClain**

**MemeKing: Give me a moment to find my best selfie.**

 

Switching over to his camera roll Lance went to his selfie folder and quickly picked out which one he knew was his best selfie. He was at the beach shirtless and the sun shining on his wet skin. He had a bright smile and his blue eyes were sparkling and he wasn’t ashamed to say he looked godly in the photo.

 

He sent it quickly and Shiro took no time to respond.

 

**TheChampion: Nice to meet you, Lance.**

**TheChampion: Do you feel any better?**

**MemeKing: Whoah Yeah I actually do. Thanks for trusting me with your name and stuff.**

**MemeKing: I guess you already know how important it was to me**

**MemeKing: Thanks for cheering me up.**

**TheChampion: Of course Lance. I’d do anything for you and all of our friends.**

**MemeKing: Ahhh this is so weird you calling me by name.**

**MemeKing: Shiro Shiro Shiro Shiro**

**MemeKing: AHHHHHHHHHH**

**TheChampion: Before you get into freaking out I have one more thing to say.**

**TheChampion: Talk to TheMasterChef before the day is over.**

**TheChampion: You guys are really close and I don’t want either of you to be sad because of something like this.**

 

Lance felt his excitement of learning about Shiro deflate a little as he remembered his real problems. He was already going to talk to Hunk but the reminder seemed to kick him in the ass as if telling him he had messed up.

 

**MemeKing: Okay I will. I promise.**

**TheChampion: Great. I knew you would. Now please pay attention in class. I don’t want to be the reason you fail.**

**MemeKing: I feel it’s a little late to get concerned about distracting me from class.**

**TheChampion: It’s never too late.**

 

Lance chuckled and slid his phone back into his pocket. Somehow the teacher had never caught him texting on his phone and it wasn’t because Lance was very good at hiding it or anything. He just guessed the teacher didn’t care.

 

For the rest of the day Lance switched from being giddy about finally seeing a picture of Shiro, to really tired, to feeling guilty about Hunk. He planned on what he was going to say to Hunk when he apologized but he was still nervous about it.

 

In result at the end of the day he avoided Hunk and went straight to the bus. He swore to himself he would either call him or show up at his house later but he was still nervous and he didn’t want to bumble through talking to him. He kept his head down as he walked but somehow he saw Keith out of the corner of his eye also on his way to the bus. He sped up so he didn’t have to interact with him. It was his fault after all that he had said that to Hunk.

 

He was pretty sure Keith never noticed him and he made it to his seat on the bus without any incident. They didn’t even look at each other the entire bus ride but when they got off he could feel Keith watching him. In a moment of immaturity, he swung around and flipped Keith off before disappearing into his house.

 

The only other person home at this time was his older brother and he greeted him briefly before explaining he was going to take a nap. His brother barely mumbled an okay from where he was typing a paper on his computer so Lance just moved on to his room.

 

Once there he kicked his shoes off and instantly fell onto his bed. He crawled up to his pillow and nuzzled his head into it. God, he had been wanting this all day. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and went to set it on the side table when an idea struck him. He opened Skype and sent a message to RedLion.

 

MemeKing: I want you to know this was the worst day of my life and it’s all your fault.

 

RedLion: My fault? It’s not my fault that you don’t know how to survive on so little sleep.

 

MemeKing: But you were the one that kept me up!

 

RedLion: Nope that still on you. I know how to watch a clock, do you?

 

MemeKing: I do!! It’s just that you are so distracting when we are getting along!

 

RedLion: Distracting?

 

MemeKing: Yeah. I don’t want to stop talking when we get going. I have a lot of fun talking to you.

 

RedLion: Oh. Wow. I didn’t know that.

 

Lance looked at what he said and felt his face flush. He had just admitted that he enjoyed spending his time talking with RedLion. He realized that it shouldn’t have meant that much. He told all his other friends that he liked talking to them all the time but with RedLion for some reason it felt like it meant a lot more.

**MemeKing: I’m going to blame that on being tired.**

**RedLion: Whatever you say dude.**

**MemeKing: I’m sleeping now bye**

 

Lance sent the message and threw him phone down on the side table. He buried his red face into his pillow and tried not to think about how much he actually did like spending with RedLion. No matter how shitty today was he felt like he would probably stay up with him all over again. Tonight even if he asked. What did that mean for him?

 

Pushing that out of his mind Lance decided to sleep. He was way too tired to try and think about anything important. And Lance was good at that kind of stuff anyway. Procrastination with anything, including feelings, was something Lance was really good at. Hence why he wasn’t talking to Hunk that very moment.

 

He promised himself he would later and let sleep quickly take him.


	3. That 'Oh Shit' Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some late night conversations and some realizing stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Crawls out from under a rock after 50 years* Hello y'all. Motivation has been kicking me in the ass. Not to mention transferring school and all that good jazz. This isn't a very long chapter but it got some stuffs in it that I hope are entertaining. I hope this story continues to reach readers and that's it's enjoyable!
> 
> Feel free to leave comments and whatnot. I only emerged from my slumber to pull this out of my butt thanks to user Natalie just letting me know they actually wanted more. Validation is my life force. I think this is a fun story and I really want to write it so I hope I can finish this sooner rather than later. And as you can see I have planned out 6 more chapters so let's all cross our fingers it doesn't take the last six as long as the first three.

When Lance woke up his mouth was dry, his skin was hot and sweaty, and he was disorientated. It was one of those naps from hell that didn’t actually make you feel better than when you went to sleep. At least his head didn’t hurt as much.

 

Sitting up slowly he rubbed at his eyes trying to somehow get himself grounded again. Eventually his eyes focused and he grabbed his phone. There was a message from RedLion from their last conversation telling him to just go to bed but that was it. It was almost a little disappointing.

 

Finally his eyes drifted up farther on his phone to the time and he practically yelped out loud. It was ten thirty. Ten freacken thirty. He had slept for almost 8 hours. How had his mom let him get away with that?

 

Jumping up from the bed he left the room yelling despite the fact that people were probably sleeping. “Mom! Why is it so late?” He booked it to where he knew his mom would be in the living room watching TV and knitting or some other hobby she enjoyed. When he skid in she looked at him over her glasses. “Mom? You let me sleep through dinner?”

 

She barked an unamused laugh. “Let you? My boy, you were dead to the world. I sent in all your siblings to wake you up and you didn’t even stop snoring.”

 

Lances surprise quickly changed in confusion. Had he really been that tired?

 

“I have no idea how you are going to sleep tonight but you are definitely going to school tomorrow.” She continued but Lance's mind was suddenly very far away. 6 blocks down the road to be exact.

 

“Mom I know this is going to be a weird request but please I need to go to Hunks house right now.” He begged his mom which he would never have done on a normal day without getting a glare.

 

Instead she raised her eyebrows. “Right now? This Late? Hunk is probably sleeping.”

 

“I know but I said something rude to Hunk today and I was going to apologize but I overslept as you know and I really need to do that because Hunk is my best friends and please mom I have to do this.” Lance was speaking rapid fire and he was kind of surprise that his mom could keep up with his panicking.

 

“Lance please slow down.” She stood up and rested her hands on his shoulders. He realized once she had stilled him that he had been bouncing around all jittery. “If you’re that upset I’ll let you go on two conditions. Take the pepper spray and be back in a half an hour the least.”

 

Usually Lance would complain that he didn’t need the pepper spray. He was a man for god’s sake. Then after he commented that his younger sister would snort and remind him that he had like no fighting skills and that on several occasions she had kicked his ass because she did karate. This would turn into bickering until their mom yelled at them to stop.

 

Instead, this time, he kissed his mom on the cheek showering her with thanks before he left to get his shoes, phone, and then pepper spray before running out of the house.

 

Lance took no time booking it as fast as he could down the road. His feet slapped loudly against the pavement and he could feel the shock of it running up his bones. Despite being a swimmer he was running out of breath, but Lance didn’t dare slow down.

 

It was an understatement to say he was panicking and perhaps it was an overreaction. Hunk was his best friend in the world. What if he thought Lance was annoying and stupid for acting like a child at lunch and then when Lance never came back to apologize decided that maybe Keith really was a better best friend? Lance felt his eyes get moist just thinking about it. Lance could make all the friends in the world but without Hunk his life would mean nothing. He would be the loneliest guy on earth.

 

It took about 7 minutes for Lance to finally make it to Hunks house. All the lights were out meaning everyone was asleep. Somehow the whole family went to bed insanely early. Not that at this moment in time it was insanely early.

 

Lance ran around the house to where he knew Hunks window was. Lance had never had the pleasure of not using the front door but he guessed that there is a first for everything. He did not want to wake up Hunks parents considering they were usually cranky when they woke up which had surprised Lance the first time since the two of them were literally angels like their son.

 

Going right up to Hunks window he figured he was going to have to knock but his first instinct was to just pull the window open. To his surprise it was actually unlocked. On a normal day he would have laughed at the fact Hunk who was usually careful about locking stuff like this was probably about to get on of the biggest scares of his life, but he was way too nervous.

 

He pushed the window up as far as he could and stepped inside. He had never snuck in through a window before and it was a lot easier than he had been expecting. Once in it took a second to adjust to the darkness of the room without street lamps illuminating it for him. Once he could see it was easy to spot the big lump in the bed covered by way too many blankets.

 

Lance couldn’t think of an alternate way of waking Hunk up so he walked up to him and placed a hand on what he hoped was his shoulder because evens Hunks head was under the blankets. Lance absentmindedly hoped he wasn’t suffocating in there.

 

“Hey buddy wake up.” He gave his friend a little shake and in the next second the blankets were flying off the bed and there was a palm against his face pushing him away. Lance stumbled back surprised and when he regained his balance Hunk was out of bed, his pajamas rumpled and his hair messy, with his hands up in fists as if he about to fight Lance.

 

“Whoah Hunk, it’s just me, Lance.” Lance called out quickly because he knew that Hunk was very strong and he did not want to be punched by the dude.

 

As soon as he spoke all the tension left Hunks body and his arms fell to his sides. “Lance? Dude, what are you doing here? You scared the shit out of me.” With a huff he fell back to sit on his bed.

 

Now that the intense situation was over Lance had a million things to say to Hunk but instead he rushed forward and hugged him, burying his face in into his neck before Hunk could question why he was there.

 

“Whoah dude are you okay?” Hunks body had gone still for a second in shock before he wrapped Lance in one of the best hugs he had ever had. There was just something about being wrapped in Hunks warmth that always made him feel safe. It gave him a little courage.

 

“I’m so sorry I said that at lunch. You are my best friend and I never want you to become best friends with Keith. I know I’m a winey sensitive baby and I hope you can forgive me.” The words seemed to be babbled and they ran together but Hunk understood them well enough.

 

“Is that really why you came here in the middle of the night? Dude, it’s okay. I know you didn’t mean it. Sure I was a little hurt but we are the best friends ever and I know that you get insecure and stuff.” Hunk squeezed Lance a little tighter to him while he spoke as if he was trying to squeeze what he was saying into him.

 

“But that was just such a shitty thing for me to say just because I was tired and irritable.” Still feeling horrible Lance tried to make Hunk blame him. He kind of wanted Hunk to say he was a shitty friend if only to prove him right. He didn’t want Hunk to leave, hell no, he just kind of wanted Hunk to accept that he had fucked up.

 

“Yeah, it was a bit of an overreaction, but I also know that you and Keith don’t get along and I guess I just want you to know for a fact that I’ll never replace you, ever.”

 

Lance looked up and Hunk with big eyes. “What if I become the most horrible person in the world?”

 

Hunk couldn’t help the laugh that escaped from him. “Then I will slap you and make you come to your senses. The Lance I know could never become the most horrible person in the world.”

 

“I think you give me too much credit.” Lance mumbled and laid his head back on Hunks shoulder.

 

“I think you give yourself too little credit.” Hunk said and laid his head on top of his.

 

Lance suddenly looked down at his watch and cringed. If he started running home now he would probably make it in time. “This is a beautiful moment I never want to end but I have to cut it short. I have to go before my mom comes looking for me to kill me.” He stood up and grabbed Hunks face and gave him a big dramatic kiss on his cheek, something he did when he was really thankful to have Hunk in his like. “I love you big guy. Thanks for being the best friend in the entire world and I’m sorry I’m such a shitty friend. Buh bye!”

 

“Uh…bye. See you tomorrow.” Hunk called as Lance climbed out the window sill and slid out into the grass. Lance took off as fast as he could so he got home on time. He broke through the front door with a minute to spare.

 

His mom was still there waiting for him at the kitchen table. “You made it home. Care to explain exactly what happened?”

 

Lance quickly told his mom the spark notes version of the story and after getting a light smack to the back of his head his mom sent him to his room once again reminding him that he had to get up for school no matter how much sleep he got.

           

Lance knew he wasn’t going to bed anytime soon. He was wide awake and he knew exactly what he was going to do.

 

**MemeKing: Heyyyyyyyyy lets play a game!!!!**

**RedLion: Just the two of us?**

**MemeKing: Yeah it’s super late we are probably the only two awake.**

**Redlion: Which is unusual for you since you need your beauty sleep.**

**MemeKing: God I can’t even fight you on that. I looked HIDEOUS today. It was the most shameful day of my life.**

**RedLion: Knowing you I really doubt that’s true.**

**MemeKing: ….**

**MemeKing: No comment.**

**Redlion: that’s what I thought.**

**RedLion: Anyways**

**RedLion: What game did you have in mind?**

**MemeKing: Two Player Portals!!!**

**Redlion: Hmmmmm… okay. We haven’t played that in a while**

Lance set up the game and the two started playing after Lance got some sleepy time tea in hopes that he wouldn’t be up forever.  It didn’t work. The two boys talked and talked as they played through the game's levels as the two robots and eventually it got to that time in the night where things either got ridiculous or deep. Tonight things leaned more towards deep.

 

“Tell me something you haven’t told anyone before.” Lance said while shooting a blue portal at the wall. It was silent for a few seconds so Lance continued. “I swear the government isn’t listening to this conversation.” It was still quiet on the other side of the chat so Lance got out his most convincing voice. “Pleeaasseee. It doesn’t have to be your name or where you live. Just a story.”

 

“Do you really want to know about me that bad?” He finally said softly over the line.

 

“Of course dude!” lance practically yelled into the microphone. “We have been friends for years. I’ve always been interested in you. Didn’t you know that? I wasn’t very subtle about that.”

 

It was quiet for a few beats before he spoke up again. “I mean yeah… but I thought it was more curiosity then caring.”

 

Lance felt his heart squeeze. Did RedLion really think this whole time Lance didn’t care about who he was because he thought of them as friends? Lance spoke softly. “No of course man I care about you so much! That’s what friends do.”  


“Oh Okay.” His voice was strained as if he didn’t know how to respond to that and knowing RedLion that was exactly it.

 

It was silent so Lance tried again just to get some kind of conversation going. “So, you going to tell me something?”

 

“Ah….Sure.” It was quiet on the line but this time it was because RedLion was thinking. “I have something in mind. It’s not exactly a secret, but… I don’t usually talk about it. It’s kind of...well…sad.”

 

Lance heart rate picked up. Was he actually about to tell him something important? Lance really wanted to hear it but he didn’t want to bring up anything bad for RedLion. “If you’re comfortable talking about it then I would love to hear it. It’s completely up to you.”

 

“Okay. Well here I go.” There was a pause for a deep breath then he dived right in. “So I was adopted, right? Well, you didn’t know that but yeah I was adopted when I was a kid. I was pretty young but not young enough to not have been through some stuff already. At my last foster home before getting adopted there was this kid. He was the foster parent’s obvious favorite. He was outgoing and nice and helpful and pretty much the opposite of me. However, the thing that no one suspected of him was that he liked to bully the younger kids. He was actually making us do his chores and things behind the foster parents back and he was just a nasty kid. If I saw him today I would punch him without a second thought. He did stuff like locked me in a closet for a whole school day or ate my food while no one was looking so I went to bed hungry. Deep down I know he did it for attention and all that bullshit but after a year of that stuff I couldn’t care anymore. It’s safe to say after that I hated that popular charismatic type. Eventually I got over it but I still can’t help it sometimes.”

 

Lance was blown away. He had gone from knowing almost nothing about the guy to finding out he was adopted and had been bullied as a kid. It took Lance a few seconds to find words but he didn’t want to leave RedLion hanging. “Wow…I’m sorry man. That sounds like a really hard situation and I’m glad you made it out of it.”

 

“Thanks.” He said slowly as if he wasn’t sure if Lance was being sincere. After he took the time to decide he was he continued. “Honestly, I’m going to admit I wasn’t too sure about you at first. But you turned out to stupid to be that kind of person.”

 

“Hey!!” Lance spluttered half out of being offended and half out of surprise of the sudden mood change. “That’s rude!”

 

RedLion laughed a little too joyfully. “You know I’m just kidding…but seriously.” His voice turned serious like the flip of a switch. “You have been a great friend over the last few years…even if I didn’t show it. You wouldn’t believe it but I don’t have a lot of friends where I live. You guys are pretty much all I have. And yeah the whole government thing is part of why I don’t want to tell you too much about me...but god I’ve been rejected so much in my life and…I’m not really ready for another one.”

 

Lance felt his chest squeeze so tight at this point he felt like he couldn’t breathe. “Hey man…you know that we would never reject you right. You are our friend and we love you no matter what. A name or a face won’t change anything.”

 

“I know that honestly.” He sounded like he was trying to convince lance more than himself. “I just can’t move past that fear… I swear someday I’ll tell you guys about myself….I just…need more time.”

 

Lances heart picked up a little at the thought of someday but he tried to focus on what RedLion was telling him. “Yeah, no dude I understand. It’s no rush. Thanks for telling me all this… I know talking about this kind of stuff isn’t easy.

 

“No it's not…so just...yeah... thanks” His voice was back to sounding super awkward and lance found it kind of endearing.

 

Truthfully, Lance’s heart felt full. It was full or happiness and sorrow. He was happy that RedLion seemed to be starting to trust him, but sad because for the first time he realized that RedLion was full of fears and insecurities just like him.

 

“Hey. I have an idea.” Lance tried to make himself sound excited but his hands started to shake. “Since you shared something I think it’s only fair I tell you something about myself. To level the playing field, you know?”

 

“Sure. If you want to. No pressure”

 

“No. I want to. It’s only… a lot hard to say this but I want to tell you.” Lance realized it had been a long time since either of them had actually moved their robot guy so lance moved his hand from his mouse to fidget with the hem of his shirt. “I actually have really bad insecurities too. Like in always terrified that if I’m not funny and happy all the time then people will get annoyed of me and leave me. There isn’t a lot of things going for me so if I stop being funny of whatever then people will realize I’m really not worth the time. And I know that that’s not true but I can’t help thinking it. So you guys are really important to me too. I’m annoying as hell but you are all still here.”

 

Lance waited in agony the few seconds it took RedLion to replay. A thousand responses were flying through his head and he was scared it was going to be the worse ones. “Oh…uh...I’m not really good at this comforting thing but like…if you were the most boring person in the world then I would still be your friend. I like spending time with you. You will always be cool in my book.”

 

Lances throat closed up. He didn’t really believe that RedLion would stick around but hearing him say it made his heart soar even more than it already was. He had no idea why he thought it was even possible for RedLion to say something mean.

 

“Thanks…same to you though. If you got really boring and didn’t want to play games I would still want to be your friend.”

 

He could hear the smile in his voice. “Seems we got each other’s back forever, huh?”

 

Lance couldn’t help but laugh. It sounded nice. “Yeah. I guess so.”

 

They played for about another hour after that. They didn’t bring up what either of them had said again, but it was there in the air. It wasn’t awkward but it was more of an understanding that they could trust and rely on each other and it felt nice.

 

Around one Lance went to bed even though he was only a little tired and after thinking more about RedLion he fell asleep.

 

In the morning he wasn’t tired, but thankfully it wasn’t as bad as the day before. As usual he and Keith glared at each other across from the street, bickered at lunch, and ignored each other in class. Every day Lance felt like Keith was trying to get on his nerves more and more and Lance didn’t know why. He was getting real tired of it. Especially since now he had less time to think about Keith because he was thinking a lot more about RedLion. It was like their relationship was on the fast track. Every night Lance and RedLion stayed up a little later then everyone else to play games and talk. They even started texting nonstop and sometimes they called each other just to chat while they were not playing games.

 

This went on for two weeks before anything changed.

 

Lance was laying on his bed talking to RedLion on the phone when Hunk came in. Hunk told Lance to tell RedLion hello so he did. Hunk pulled out the homework they were planning to work on while he waited for Lance to hang up. However, after a few minutes, they were still talking. Lance was gushing about something and Hunk realized he was giggling. Lance didn’t notice but Hunks eyes narrowed visibly. He watched for a few minutes longer and when Lance spewed some cheesy pickup line Hunk was convinced.

 

Hunk motioned for Lance to hang up and Lance waved his hand at him as if to tell him he was almost done. Lance laughed a few more times before he hung up.

 

Sitting up he placed his phone on the side table. “Sorry buddy, I didn’t think we would tall for so long. What’s up?”

 

Hunk didn’t pull any punches and cut right to the chase. “How long have you liked RedLion?”

 

Lance spluttered practically spraying spit everywhere. “I have no idea what you are talking about?”

 

Hunk felt a knowing smile grow on his face. “Do you really not? You talk to him 24/7. When you are talking you always giggle and blush. Half the time you forget anyone else is in the room. And just now you just slipped in a casual pickup line so that means you were flirting.”

 

“I was not!” Lance yelled in defense but the wheels in his brain were turning. He thought over all their interactions that week. He thought about all the way back to when they had goofed off that first night to now and it hit Lance like a semi-truck. “Oh fuck I like RedLion, don’t I?”

 

“That’s what it looks like buddy.” Hunk said with a smile and a shrug.

 

However, instead of happy like hunk had expected, Lance dropped his head into his hands and groaned. “I can’t though.”

 

Hunks eyebrows jumped up. “What-“

 

“I don’t even know his name!” Suddenly Lance jumped up and started pacing. “Nor his face. God, I don’t even know how old he is. He could be like 14???  Not that looks matter but what if he is like super ugly?”

 

Hunk stood up slowly as Lance started to babble and stopped him by placing his hands on his shoulders.” Lance. Calm down.”

 

“I can’t!” Lance looked at his feet, not wanting to meet Hunks gaze. “This is a hopeless crush and I know it and I’m pretty sure I was better off being clueless.”

 

“You can’t know that this is hopeless. You can’t know anything yet at this point.” Hunk said gently but Lance wasn’t really listening.

 

“Even if RedLion was everything I dreamed of he would never like me back. Have you met me? And an online relationship? I don’t think I could live like that even if by some miracle of god he likes me back.” Dejected, Lance fell backward so he was sitting on his bed.

 

“Lance. Please. You can’t tell any of these things. You just assuming.” Hunk shook Lance a little as if that would clear his mind. “You a great guy and you can’t give up this soon. I mean He talks to you all the time too so there has to be something to that, right? Plus there are so many great ways to maintain long distance relationships. You have no reason to be so negative about this.”

 

“But I can be Hunk. Oh I sure can be!” Lance pulled out of his grasp and started pacing again. “You can be friends with someone and not like them. He may be gay but like I’m not exactly the top of the market.”

 

Hunks face twisted up as if he wanted to say something he knew he shouldn’t. Finally he sighed and sat down next to Lance making the bed dip. “I know you don’t believe me but you are a catch Lance. So many people like you. So just...don’t just give up okay? You a fun, nice, and handsome guy and I feel like RedLion would be dumb if he didn’t want to at least talk to you about feelings if you decided to tell him.”

 

“Yeah…I’m probably not going to tell him.” Lances voice was small and he sunk down to sit on his bed again.

 

“Don’t give up so soon. Just think about it and don’t let those insecurities hold you back. Okay?”

 

Lance felt like sinking back into himself. He didn’t want to talk about his insecurities so he just nodded his head. “Okay. I can try but nothing is guaranteed.”

 

Hunk sat down next to him again and pulled him into a side hug. “That’s all I ask for.”


	4. Can't You Feel My Heart Beat Slow, I Can't Let You Go.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance tries to figure out what to do with his feelings for RedLion. His friends help out and things are a little weird with Keith for reasons Lance can't seem to figure out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check it out it hasn't been a few months since my last post. This next chapter I finally get to write the idea I had that started all this but it was really vague so I'm so glad somehow this is all really coming together. So I hope you enjoy the buildup of this chapter and I wonder if anyone has a guess of whats going to happen. Its probably really predictable.

Lance had been up all night tossing and turning. He couldn’t get the whole RedLion crush thing out of his head. The more he thought about it the more he realized he liked the dude and the scarier it was. There was so much unknown surrounding the guy and so much room for rejection that Lance didn’t know if he would be able to handle it. He knew Hunk thought he should pursue it but honestly he didn’t think Hunk knew that much about love to be a great source of information.

 

Thankfully he knew a princess who could help him out.

 

At lunch Keith was glaring at him again so he decided to lie and say he had to go print something at the library. He could feel Keith glaring at him as he left so he turned and flipped him off. It was the usual. As he walked he pulled up SpacePrincess’s chat and he could feel his heart pick up with nerves.

 

**MemeKing: Hey Princess?**

**MemeKing: Are you busy?**

**MemeKing: I kind of had something I wanted to talk about.**

**SpacePrincess: I just got on my lunch break what’s up?**

**MemeKing: I kind of wanted to get personal with you. Do you mind if I tell you my name to start off?**

**SpacePrincess: Oh!**

**SpacePrincess: Of course. I would love to know more about you after our many years of friendship. I would also like to share the same information if you are. I’m sure you would be into that.**

**MemeKing: God of course I would be okay with it. I’ve only been begging for my entire life.**

**SpacePrincess: Always the dramatic one.**

**MemeKing: If I’m not then who will be?**

**MemeKing: Anyways my name is Lance. And this is my crazy handsome face.**

 

Lance sent the same picture he had sent Shiro of him on the beach.

 

**SpacePrincess: Oh gosh look at your cute baby face!!!!!!!!!! You’re so adorable :D :D :D**

**MemeKing: Oh my god. You are not THAT much older than me.**

**SpacePrincess: Oh Lance honey 18 is so young you will understand in a few years.**

**SpacePrincess: All joking aside you look very nice Lance.**

**MemeKing: Thank you, princess. I also want you to know it’s okay to be secretly in love with me. I won’t tell anyone.**

**MemeKing: Now if you will be so gracious to bless me with your gorgeous face I will die of happiness.**

**SpacePrincess: Ah of course!**

**SpacePrincess: My name is Allura.**

**An image pulled up in the chat of a beautiful African America girl with long dyed silver hair.  She was** drop dead **gorgeous and Lance felt his breath catch in his throat.**

**MemeKing: GOD. I HAVE ASCENDED!! Both you and Shiro are so hot??? TBH if I didn’t already have a crush I would probably be in love with you.**

**SpacePrincess: Should I be flattered? Honestly not sure.**

**MemeKing: Idk I told Shiro I wanted him to be my hot dad so it could have gone a lot worse.**

**SpacePrincess: Lance you are so funny! And a little weird! That’s okay though it’s a good thing.**

**SpacePrincess: I’m just glad I can call you by your name after so long.**

**SpacePrincess: I wish a little that we had done this much sooner.**

**SpacePrincess: I wanted to Respect RedLion though so I kept it a secret.**

**MemeKing: Understandable. You wanted to be loyal to a friend.**

**MemeKing: But hey.**

**MemeKing: Here comes the like…**

**MemeKing: think I want to talk to you about.**

**MemeKing: I kind of…totally…have a crush on….RedLion**

**SpacePrincess: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**SpacePrincess: THAT’S ADORABLE**

**MemeKing: Oh god please calm down I’m trying to be serious lol.**

**SpacePrincess: Sorry that is just so cute! You guys would be so cute together. I’m so behind you on this.**

**MemeKing: Okay good cause I kind of want some advice.**

**SpacePrincess: Of course lay it on me.**

**MemeKing: Me and RedLion…do you think it’s actually possible.**

**MemeKing: I mean you are like a relationship/flirting master so I figure if anyone knows if I have a chance it should be you.**

**SpacePrincess: Lance**

**SpacePrincess: Lance my sweet baby Lance**

 

**SpacePrincess: You guys get along so well now days?**

**SpacePrincess: You are chatting all the time and you have these cute little inside jokes and you guys seem to really understand each other.**

**SpacePrincess: If this isn’t a sign to go after love then I don’t know what the hell is!**

**MemeKing: Okay one: it’s not love**

**MemeKing: Two: you don’t think its possible I could ruin anything by confessing?**

**MemeKing: I mean…I am just…me**

**SpacePrincess: LANCE WHATEVER WHATEVER!!!! DO NOT SELL YOURSELF SHORT!**

**SpacePrincess: I don’t know where you live but I am coming to whip some sense into you.**

**SpacePrincess: You are such a great guy. You get a little hyper and loud at times but it’s adorable and loveable. RedLion seems to really like you as a person so even if he doesn’t like you like that he isn’t just going to walk out of your life.**

**SpacePrincess: You are an important friend to all of us and if you like RedLion then you should go after him because** personally **I think you have a really big chance of being successful.**

 

**MemeKing: You know…I really want to believe that. It’s the answer I was looking for but I’m still not sure. I feel like me and** him **have built a bond that’s going to stick no matter what. And there is still a chance that he will hate me for liking him. I know that’s all worst case scenario shit but it’s enough to make me hesitate. I think I’m going to put more thought into confessing to him. (Also I’m laughing that you put whatever whatever instead of my middle and last name. very creative.)**

**MemeKing: Thanks Allura.**

**MemeKing: Beautiful name BTW**

**SpacePrincess: Thanks Lance.**

**SpacePrincess: I understand completely where you are coming from. These kind of things are scary. It's putting yourself out there with a chance of being rejected. It doesn’t feel good. Just don’t forget I have your back no matter what. I wish you the most luck possible in this situation. (Thanks I tried my best with what I had.)**

**MemeKing: Thank you Princess. That’s for putting up with me ridiculous ass and being understanding.**

Sliding his phone into his pocket Lance left the bench he has chosen to sit on outside for the conversation. His palms were sweaty and he was honestly feeling great despite his anxiety about the situation. Not only did he get to find out that her name was Allura, but she also thought that he and RedLion had a chance. It might have helped that Allura had been playing with him longer then he had and probably knew him better or that she was a beautiful girl but Lance actually felt a little bit more that maybe he had a chance. For once Lance was feeling positive.

 

Lance had made the mistake of looking over the conversation as he walked and without realizing anyone was near he rammed right into someone. He saw them stumble and he reached out and grabbed their arm to steady them.

 

“Oh shit sorry.” Lance looked up to see who it was he had run into and saw it was Keith. Lance’s good mood instantly turned sour. This was exactly what he didn’t need. “Oh, it’s you, asshole.”

 

Lance let go and Keith stumbled a little regaining his balance. “Why didn’t you watch where you were going? Someone could have gotten hurt idiot.”

 

“Shut up it was an accident.” Lance shot back, his anger rising for no reason considering it really was his fault.

 

“Whatever.” Keith rolled his eyes and moved to walk off before he paused. “Wait. What are you doing here? The library is on the other side of the school.”

 

Lance went pale. He honestly hadn’t gone that far from the cafeteria. He was more preoccupied with the conversation than making his lie believable.

 

“Uh….I was on my way back.” Lance tried but he could already tell by the smug look on Keith’s face he had made a mistake.

 

“But you were walking away from the cafeteria. How do you explain that?” He quirked up an eyebrow with that smug smile and it made Lance's blood boil.

 

“I was looking at my phone so I must have got turned around.” Lance shot back but he knew it was a weak excuse.

 

“Okay, show me that paper you were reprinting out and I’ll believe you.”

 

For once in Lance’s life he wished he was organized. If he was smart he could have pulled out some paper from a class he and Keith didn’t have together and if he didn’t put a date on it and it would have been golden. Lan, however, r tended to shove his papers In his backpack once he got them back so they were all crumpled and damaged and clearly old. He was fucked.

 

“I don’t have to prove anything to you mullet.” Lance crossed his arms and pointed his nose up in defiance.

Keith huffed at the nickname and rolled his eyes once again. “Okay whatever you liar.”

 

Keith turned to leave but Lance was feeling rage. His cheeks puffed up and he let the air out in a puff. “What did you call me?”

 

Keith paused and looked over his shoulder. “A liar. Do you need me to spell it out for you? L I A R. Understand now?”

 

“I am not a liar!” Lance stopped himself a second before stomping his foot. “You’re just too stupid to see the truth!”

 

Keith chucked and Lance felt a whole new wave of anger crash through him. “Keep telling yourself that….Liar.”

 

With one more smug grin Keith took off leaving Lance to stand their seething and glaring daggers at his retreating form.

 

Lance was angry all next period. He ended up sending Pidge messages to try and cool off. She only laughed at him for being stupid too and Lance put his phone away before anyone else could make fun of him. He really wanted to talk to RedLion but he was having a small crisis with him right now so he really didn’t think that would calm him.

 

This, however, was a mistake. By the end of the school day Lance got a message when he was getting on the bus.

 

**RedLion: Hey dude is everything okay?**

**RedLion: You usually send me a million messaged through the day but I didn’t get anything all at.**

**RedLion: Did I…. do something?**

 

Lance suddenly felt horrible. After what he had told him he should have known disappearing all of the sudden would make RedLion feel vulnerable. How could he be so stupid and selfish?

 

**MemeKing: Oh god no!!!!!!!**

**MemeKing: You are sooo fine**

**MemeKing: Super fine.**

**MemeKing: I just had a bad encounter with the AssholeTM and have been in a horrible mood.**

**MemeKing: Didn’t want to pass it on to you.**

**RedLion: You don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff.**

**RedLion: If anything I want to make your day better.**

**RedLion: God that was embarrassing why did I say that??**

**MemeKing: Cause you are a secret sweetie and you couldn’t help but feel for me because you like me so much!**

**RedLion: Ah yes. That was it.**

**MemeKing: Damn I can feel the sarcasm all the way from here.**

**RedLion: Good I would be heartbroken if you missed it.**

 

Lance smiled down at his phone as he sent a message back. Despite everything RedLion was the one person who could really make him forget all his problems. This only magnified his crush and made him ache to meet this boy. He didn’t know how much longer he could wait now that he understood how he felt. Even if he didn’t confess he at least wanted to see the face behind RedLion. Right now it was like crushing on some mysterious figure. He wanted something a little more real between the two of them.

 

Knowing Allura’s and Shiro’s true identities was awesome after all. He felt like he was connecting with them on a level he wouldn’t have been able to before. Was it so bad he wanted to have that with RedLion too? He already knew he wasn’t going to reject RedLion no matter what he looked like or whatever he had hidden from them. He would be the biggest hypocrite if he did. He just wanted to have something more with him.

 

If that didn’t make it sound like he wanted them to be boyfriends he didn’t know what did.

 

Later that night after dinner Lance got a message that set his heart going.

 

**Group message: Lance and RedLion should make out.**

**SpacePrincess: Hey do you all want to skype for the first time?**

**MemeKing: UM YES???**

**MemeKing: THIS IS JUST THE THING IVE BEEN WAITING MY WHOLE LIFE FOR???**

**MemeKing: But can you explain why that is the group name?**

**SpacePrincess: Obviously cause the two of you need to get together and we are going to help you.**

**BirdBabe: WAIT**

**BirdBabe: are you telling me that Lance finally figured out he liked RedLion??**

**MemeKing: You knew???**

**MasterChef: No…I kind of told him.**

**BirdBabe: Dude!!!! Why did you tell him?**

**MasterChef: Idk it was just…kind of annoying.**

**MemeKing: I can’t believe either of you??? I trusted you guys!!!!**

**BirdBabe: Trusted us to what? Not know you like someone before you do?**

**MemeKing: Well when you say it like that it just sounds stupid.**

**BirdBabe: Well it’s not our fault you are oblivious to your own feelings.**

**TheChampion: Hey we can type about how we all knew that Lance liked RedLion or we can start this video chat.**

**MemeKing: You too Shiro???**

**TheChampion: Well you always were flirting with him when we play games so it wasn’t that hard.**

**MemeKing: WAIT**

**MemeKing: It was THAT obvious????**

 

**MemeKing: Does he know???**

 

**TheChampion: Doubt it. He’s just about as oblivious as you.**

 

**MemeKing: what does that mean?**

**SpacePrincess: Get ready I’m calling!**

 

Without much time to process it the call button popped up on Lance's computer screen and he didn’t hesitate to pick up the call. Instantly he was greeted with four faces. Of course there was Hunks familiar face, Pidges face with her wacky short hair and her big glasses, Shiro with his scar and all his beautify, and Allura looking excited with her long flowing silver hair pulled back in a bun.

 

“The meeting has officially begun!” Allura said with a clap of her hands.

 

Hunk cheered but the rest of the group was silent which made him blush a little in embarrassment.

 

“Exactly why are we doing this?” Shiro asked, one of his eyebrows arched in question.

 

Lance wanted to ask the same but he was close to tears. He had waited so long for this moment. It was a little weird since RedLion wasn’t there but it was everything he had dreamed. He was seeing all his friends in real time. He could see their lips move and see them blink and they were just so real.

 

“Lance buddy?” Hunk said and he realized they had all been talking without him.

 

“Oh uh sorry, I was having a moment.” Lance rubbed at his eyes to try and relieve some of the tightness. “What were you saying?”

 

“Allura was saying that she wants you and RedLion to date.” Pidge said with a little bit of an evil smirk.

 

“Why are you looking like that though?” lance said warily. Pidge was always into some kind of project or idea and while most of them were cool technological things sometimes Pidge did thinks like prank him or mess with their neighbors Wi-Fi just cause they didn’t like them. When she did things like that her face had the same smirk.

 

“Cause I feel like whatever happens is going to be a disaster.” Pidge said leaning towards her screen as if to make sure lance saw the smirk.

 

“Pidge! That wasn’t very nice.” Shiro said in that dad voice he didn’t know he had before Lance could get upset.

 

Pidges face fell like an actual kid getting in trouble. Her eyes were downcast and she bit her lip in what looked like embarrassment. “No…you right. Sorry, Lance, I was just kidding.”

 

“No…but you are kind of right.” Lance's shoulders slumped. The apology had come too late and now the wheels in lances head were turning again. “ I already kind of said this to Hunk but not only is RedLion super private and the chances of us having a successful long distance relationship is low….the likelihood he would ever like me back is…low.”

 

Allura’s eyebrows furrowed “Why would you say that? When we talked earlier I told you it wasn’t as bleak as you thought and you said you would think about it. What happened?”

 

Lance couldn’t look at her so he looked at pidges image as he talked. “I don’t know. I’m just not that great. Yeah we get along and we talk but there is more too it. You can like someone as a friend and not have a crush on them. I'm just plain old lance and there is so many more options out there. For all I know he already has a boyfriend.”

 

“Lance! You can’t think like that! You are not ‘just plain old Lance’. You are special and unique and one of a kind! We all love you dearly and want to be around you. I’m sure RedLion isn’t that different.” Allura looked desperate to get the message to lance and while Lance appreciated it he still wasn’t convinced.

 

“I tried telling him that but he didn’t believe me!” Hunk said in an almost exasperated voice that was mostly full of sorrow. “I don’t know how to make him understand it.”

 

“It’s not something people can just understand sometimes.” Shiro said a little slowly as if he was thinking about each word before he said it. “Lance. You are a great person and I get that you don’t always feel that way, but right now you are making decisions for RedLion and that isn’t fair to either of you. It’s okay if you don’t tell him how you feel, but don’t go around saying it’s impossible. You can’t know that.”

 

“Wow…that was some real dad wisdom Shiro.” Lance tried to say humorously but no one laughed.

 

Shiro shrugged while still looking dead serious. “I guess you don’t call me the group dad for no reason.”

 

“Lance.” Pidge said interrupting the two of them. “I agree with Shiro, but I don’t think you are the type of person to sit on your hands and let love pass you by.” She paused and a shiver ran up her spine. “Saying that aloud was a lot worse than I ever imagined but I feel like that’s something that would reach you. NO matter what you think of yourself you are a go getter Lance. Even if you don’t feel it you but on a brave face and you dive into whatever is in front of you. Its one of the qualities that is so admirable. Do you really want to be afraid now and let something that could affect your future so much pass you by?”

 

Lance sat and blinked at his keyboard a few times. “That…that actually made a lot of sense. Even if I’m scared I’m not the type to pass up a moment as important as this. I’ve never let something like this stop me before. And I don’t think I should start now. I think...I think you guys convinced me to talk to RedLion about this. It may end badly but I’ll never be able to regret not doing it.”

 

“That’s my boy!” Allura yelled too loud. “Never let fear stop you from living your life to the fullest!”

 

Everyone cheered and agreed with that and Lance felt a little bit of warmth in his chest. It was nice to have a resolve, but it was even nicer to have all his friends show their love and support for him. Just being there for him did a lot more than words ever could

 

“Okay, but how are you going to do it?” Allura said and after that it was chaos. For over an hour the five of them talked about how Lance could confess to RedLion. Serious ideas and ridiculous ones alike where pitched and while Lance was still way nervous he was having a lot of fun.

 

By the time the chat was over they hadn’t actually come up with anything for Lance to say to RedLion but that was mostly because they all knew in the end it was up to Lance himself to make it happen. They all hung up after promising to do that again soon and each respectively went to bed.

 

Lance crawled into bed with his phone in his hand.  A few messaged from RedLion were on the screen from when he had tried contacting him during the group video chat.

 

**RedLion: Hey, how was your day?**

**RedLion: Are you busy?**

**RedLion: Oh, TheChampion said you guys are video chatting. Have fun I guess.**

**Lance smiled sadly at the last one. He knew he was pretending he didn’t care but he actually did.**

**MemeKing: You could have joined us you know.**

**RedLion: You know why I don’t want to.**

**MemeKing: Yeah. I do**

**MemeKing: Someday though, right?”**

**RedLion: Yeah. I hope so. I just need more time.**

**MemeKing: And that’s perfectly okay. We aren’t going anywhere.**

**MemeKing: Anyways my day was pretty good. Yours?**

**RedLion: It could have been better. I got into some fight with this guy today.**

**MemeKing: Fight? Like fist fight??**

**RedLion: haha no.**

**RedLion: This guy I go to school with who is kind of annoying and we just fight a lot. He lied about something and I called him out on it and he got mad.**

**MemeKing: Well it sounds like he deserved it.**

**RedLion: Maybe. We are always like that though even if he didn’t deserve it. I started it originally but** honestly **I’m really tired of it. I just don’t know how to stop it.**

**MemeKing: Can you just ignore him?**

**RedLion: I guess I could. He’s friends with my only friend though so if I ignore him I ignore the other guy. I could do it but I don’t really want to.**

**MemeKing: Hmmmm….well you said that you didn’t really want to do it anymore. Can you guys maybe become friends?**

**RedLion: I don’t think he would want that.**

**MemeKing: Can you really know?**

**RedLion: It’s pretty obvious.**

**MemeKing:  Well then I don’t know what you should do. Sorry L**

**RedLion: That’s okay. I didn’t really expect you to fix my problems. I mean this has been going on for years.**

**MemeKing: Years???**

**RedLion: Yeah…**

**RedLion: See I met this guy when I was little. He was really outgoing and loved by everyone. I had just gotten out of the situation with the kid who bullied me and I couldn’t help but see them as the same. I flat out ignored him and told him I didn’t like him and then he became angry. I don’t see him that way anymore. truthfully he’s a stupid and honest guy but we are just stuck in this place of always fighting. I don’t know if he sees it that way or if he really hates me. I just don’t think the situation can be fixed.**

**MemeKing: Wow. That’s actually huge. It seems that you both need to come together and find a middle if you want to put this behind you.**

**RedLion: Wow. I guess that’s true. I didn’t know you could be that mature.**

**MemeKing: Hey!! I can be plenty mature!!!**

**RedLion: Okay if you say so “MemeKing”**

**RedLion: But honestly I would do it if it would work….I just don’t think he wants to find that middle with me.**

**MemeKing: Let me ask you this again: have you ever asked him if he does?**

**RedLion: No….**

**MemeKing: there you go. You can’t really know, can you? You can’t make a decision for the both of you. That’s not fair for either of you.**

**RedLion: Hey stop being wise. You are not an old man yet. Close but not yet.**

**MemeKing: I’m mentally old and wise. I got an old soul you know.**

**RedLion: Suuuureeee. I bet you got that from like, Shiro or something.**

**MemeKing: No comment.**

**RedLion: But yeah…maybe I should talk to him. Not right away. But soon.**

**MemeKing: That sounds smart. Try backing off from the fighting and stuff and see what happens. And if it cools down enough try and talk to him.**

**MemeKing: And if you need any more advice from this old soul I’m here.**

**RedLion: Thanks**

**RedLion: …grandpa.**

**MemeKing: Gosh I really thought we were trying to have a moment here. Had to keep calling me a grandpa didn’t you? Geeeeeeeezzzzzzzzz.**

**RedLion: …**

**RedLion: Who says it wasn’t one?**

 

Lance blushed and looked down at his phone. Why did that make him blush? He knew he liked RedLion but was he really that into him?  Was really just the thought of having something special with him make him that happy? Lances idle fingers seemed to think so. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even remember to answer.

 

**RedLion: Isn’t it your bedtime though?**

 

That jump started Lance back into reality. He refocused his eyes on the screen and frowned.

 

**MemeKing: Trying to get rid of me?**

**RedLion: I’m just trying to look out for you.**

**RedLion: Don’t need you complaining again.**

**Lance laughed at that. RedLion could never let a sincere moment sit. He had to make it into a joke or into a not mean but trying to be mean comment. Lance was far enough gone to find it endearing.**

**MemeKing: You don’t want to hear me go on and on about my beauty rest and my poor skin?**

**RedLion: No you already do that enough without an excuse.**

**MemeKing: I’m sure your skin is as dry as the desert. Probably never seen moisturizer a day in your life.**

**RedLion: I put lotion on my face like once so there.**

**MemeKing: YOU DID WHAT????**

**MemeKing: NONONONONONONO**

**MemeKing: LOTION IS BAD!!!!**

 

**MemeKing: Was it scented??????????????????**

 

**RedLion: ….yes?**

**MemeKing: OH MY GOD**

**MemeKing: you are killing me dude**

**MemeKing: Make me a promise not to do that ever again.**

**RedLion: Why? Why does it matter?**

**MemeKing: ITS BAD**

**MemeKing: If I explained it to you you wouldn’t care so just promise me.**

**RedLion: Fine… I won’t.**

**MemeKing: THANK GOD!**

**MemeKing: Now I can sleep in peace knowing that you won’t be ruining your probably already horrible skin.**

**RedLion: I wish you could see how hard my eyes just rolled.**

**MemeKing: I don’t know what you look like but I have a good idea of what it looked like. I know a guy who is pretty good at doing those dramatically.**

**RedLion: perfect.**

**RedLion: Now go to bed. Goodnight**

**MemeKing: Good night dude. Don’t stay up too late.**

**RedLion: You know me. No promises.**

Lance looked at his phone a few more seconds before he set his phone down. It wasn’t until his face relaxed that he realized how hard he had been smiling. He just liked talking to RedLion so much. It didn’t really have to be about anything. He just enjoyed his company. Lance couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like if he met him in person.

 

 He wondered if they would have hit it off right away or if they would have been weird about each other like they had been online. Would Lance still have gotten a crush on him if they had met in real life first? Would they have even been friends? Lance was happy that RedLion was even in his life but every day he realized he wanted more and more out of the relationship.

 

That’s why he had to tell him, wasn’t it? Not because he wanted to, but at this point he had to. If he ever wanted to attempt at being happy with RedLion, truly happy, he had to tell him how he felt. It wasn’t a challenge he could back down from no matter how scary it was.

 

He would tell him soon. Not too soon, but soon.

 

The next day went by in a blur. For Lance Thursdays usually did. They were the day before Friday and Lance was tired from the week and the weekend excitement hadn’t yet hit. It also helped that that Thursday he didn’t talk to Keith once. It wasn’t that he tried to ignore him it was just that Keith was unusually quiet. He would look at Lance then quickly look away if Lance caught him. It wasn’t a mean look either. It was oddly curious. As if he wanted to ask Lance something but didn’t have the courage. Lance wasn’t about to give him a break and ask him what he wanted. If Keith wanted something he was going to have to figure out how to do it himself.

 

So, in the end, it was overall a great, easy day. That was until Lance walked into the house and his mother made an announcement from the table.

 

“Lance, mi Vida, don’t go off playing games with your friends. We are going over to the Kogane’s for dinner tonight.”

 

Lance froze in the hallway and slouched dramatically into the wall in disappointment. “Why?” he whined.

 

“They were nice enough to invite us over and it’s been a while since we did anything with them.” His mother looked up at him with a look that said ‘don’t try to argue with me’ but Lance wasn’t really one to listen.

 

“Can I skip out?”

 

Her lips tightened into a disappointed line before she spoke. “No, you didn’t go last time and they made a few comments on wishing you could have come.”

 

“I’m sure Keith was happy about it though.” Lance muttered.

 

“What did you say?” His mother said in a tone that said he was getting close to the danger zone.

 

“Okay, Madre. I will go.”

 

“Thank you honey.” Standing up his mother came over and made him lean down for a kiss on the head before disappearing off to somewhere else in the house.

 

Lance’s whole afternoon was now looking bleak. Not only did the Kogane’s make multiple course meals, they loved to play at least one game after. He was going to be there till it was time for him to go to bed probably. Lance went to his room and hopped on his computer to check up on a few things and shoot his friends a message.

 

**MemeKing: I won’t be able to play anything tonight. I have a family commitment. Sorry y’all. I know you will be in agony without me.**

**RedLion: I’m ignoring the agony part but I will say that I also have a family commitment tonight.**

**MemeKing: Wow!!! We are so similar it’s scary.**

**RedLion: No. We are not.**

**SpacePrincess: Wait!**

**SpacePrincess: did you guys talk?**

**RedLion: About?**

**MemeKing: HEY WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?**

**MemeKing: WHY WOULD WE TALK?**

**MemeKing: WE DON’T TALK**

**MasterChef: You okay there buddy?**

**SpacePrincess: Well it’s suspicious that you both have “family commitments” at the same time**

**TheChampion: I think you are looking into this way too much.**

**RedLion: Yeah I don’t even know where any of you live how could I secretly meet up with this doofus?**

**MemeKing: Yeah what he said there is no reason what so ever we would be in the same place tonight.**

**RedLion: …yeah…exactly.**

**RedLion: Anyways I’m going now. I have to help make dinner.**

**MemeKing: …**

**MemeKing: I hate you all**

 

Lance pushed away from his computer and walked over to his bed and fell face first into the covers. Soon he was going to have to help his own mother cook something because in her words ‘it was rude to come empty handed’. It was usually some kind of desert because mom believed that if you brought a side it had to match and she also thought it was rude to ask what someone was cooking. So if they told her what they were making they would make some extravagant side dish but if they didn’t they made one of his moms sinful deserts.

 

He laid there for about two minutes mourning his night before he heard the destined call of his mom telling him to get to the kitchen. With a groan he pushed himself up getting ready for a long, horrible night.

 

About two hours later Lance had a plate of frosting covered brownies in his arms as the six of them, including his older sister who always made a point to come home for these dinners, made their way across the street. Lance didn’t see why he had to carry them when he was the one who helped make them, but he didn’t complain when his mama passed them to him. He didn’t need to start this off worse than he had to.

 

When they rang the doorbell Keith answered. He was wearing a nice shirt and pants instead of his usual black on black and his hair was combed. One of his moms had obviously forced him to look presentable for company and he obviously hated it. The smile on his face was polite but forced as he welcomed them in. It wavered when Lance’s eyes met with his which was weird because usually the smile completely dropped.

 

Once inside Jill and Lacy ushered them to their table. To accommodate the 6 of them they had to push a second table up to their main table and covered both with the same colored tablecloth as if they were trying to hide the face one was wood and the other was plastic.

 

They put all the kids at the plastic table and the four adults sat at the wood table. Somehow Lance ended up sandwiched between Keith and his oldest sister after the brownies were whisked out of his arms.

 

For the most part the dinner went as normal. Keith was quiet and only answered questions when asked. His sisters bickered at one point to the embarrassment of his mom and his dad had to tell his brother at least once to stop playing with his food despite being a year older than Lance. Then it was always his turn for Jill and Lacey to ask him about his life.

 

“So Lance, how is school going?” Jill said before taking a bite of fish.

 

“Not bad” Lance said with a shrug but he heard his mom cluck her tongue.

 

“He’s being modest! He’s got straight A’s in all his classes including the college level ones!”

 

“I wish we could say the same for Keith here” Lacey said fondly but it made Keith freeze with food halfway to his mouth. “We can’t get him to stop falling asleep in class.”

 

“Mom.” Keith hissed, his face beet red.

 

“Not to say his grades are bad.” Jill continued for her wife completely ignoring Keith. “If he went to bed at a decent time then maybe he would be doing better.”

 

“I have insomnia.” He muttered under his breath in a way only Lance could hear.

 

“Of course we love Keith no matter his grades, but honey maybe you should do some studying with Lance?” Lacey said completely oblivious that Keith had even said anything.

 

Keith’s eyes shot up to Lance’s and Lance felt like he had been burn from the fire in his eyes. “Yeah. Maybe” His voice was tight but it was like neither of them noticed what was going on between the two of them and the conversation kept moving.

 

“How are things on the swim team than Lance? Must be hard to balance both academics and sports.”

 

“Lance has actually already been offered a full ride scholarship to a local college!” His dad said obviously bursting with pride. “Of course we are holding out to see all the options but Lance’s times are so great we are sure he could go anywhere he wanted and they would give him a scholarship!”

 

“Dad you’re exaggerating.” Lance said even though he was soaking in every bit of praise tossed his way and completely forgetting about Keith.

 

“I’m sure he’s not!” Lacey threw in before his dad could reply. “We have been meaning to come to one of your swim meets. We hear endlessly from other parents with kids on the swim team about how well you’re doing. When is the next one?”

 

“It’s in a few weeks. I’m in a couple of races so I’m pretty excited for it. It’s against a strong rival but I know I can beat them.” Lance was practically puffing his chest out. The whole adult side of the table was practically throwing everything flammable in the room into the fire of his ego.

 

“We have been trying to get Keith to join a club or something at school but he won’t.” Jill said with a sigh. “ We tell him it will look good on his college applications but he doesn’t seem to care. Lance do you know anything you can get him involved in? Anything else you do?”

 

“I’m not joining a stupid club.” Keith said in a voice he was trying to keep steady but it wobbled.

 

“But honey it would be so good for you.” Jill practically pleaded but Keith’s arms were crossed tightly over his chest and Lance knew from arguments with him that this meant he was not going to give in.

 

“Yeah you might think so but I don’t even want to go to a university. I’m going to the local community college for their automotive degree and they don’t care about that kind of stuff like snobby schools. I’ve already applied. I’ve told you this so many times.”

 

“We know you applied but we don’t want you to” Lacey paused and looked to her wife for the right words. “…lower your standards.”

 

“Are you saying that community college isn’t good as a university?” Keith practically kissed and lances whole family seemed to freeze as if this was a sign that something bad was about to happen.

 

“No that’s not what we are saying!” Lacey said, quickly jumping to defend the both of them. “ We just want you to have a full college experience. We have the money to send you where ever you want to.”

 

“Can we…can we do this later when we don’t have company?” Keith said under his breath seeming to be the only one who notices lances whole families reaction.

 

“We have known the McClain’s forever it’s alright to talk about it with them.” Jill said obviously not noticing their reaction.

 

Keith stared at his plate calmly and instead of exploding like Lance thought he would he spoke slowly and thoughtfully. “No, it’s not. It’s obvious you want me to be like Lance. I mean who wouldn’t. He’s got the grades, he’s got the athletics, and he wants to go to a university probably to do something that makes a lot of money. But I’m not him. Sorry to disappoint.”

 

With that he stood up slowly and left the room. Lacey and Jill looked after him shocked before they looked at each other. “Oh no. I think we messed up.” Lacey said with a trembling hand over her mouth. “We didn’t mean to imply that we were…in anyway disappointed or unhappy with Keith and what he wants to do. But it seems we came off wrong.”

 

“We…We should go talk to him.” Jill stood up from the table. “We are sorry to cut dinner so short because of our shortcomings as parents.”

 

“It’s okay.” Lances mom said as they all stood up. “We can’t be perfect. We will leave some desert behind. Let’s do this again soon.”

 

Lacey and Jill hugged them all goodbye and the six of them turned to leave. Once out the door the atmosphere was still weird. Lance didn’t know about the rest of them but all he could do was wonder if Keith was okay. His Moms obviously didn’t mean to hurt him like they did but it really did seem like they wanted him to be like Lance. And yeah Lance was pretty great but no one wanted to hear that from their parents even if they didn’t mean it that way.

 

Lance was going to have to talk to Keith tomorrow and make sure he was okay. Keith would probably snap at him like he normally did which would be okay. That would mean Keith was normal and that him and his moms made up.

 

For some reason in that moment all Lance wanted was for Keith to be happy. No matter how much of an asshole Keith was sometimes, he deserved to be happy.


	5. Keep Your Thumb On The Outside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance talks to Keith about what happened at dinner but instead of fixing things it just creates more problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little shorter than my usual but I felt that it was important to stop where I did. I feel like a lot still happens but I could be wrong. I hope you enjoy it and I would love to hear peoples opinions on what happened.

Lance was weirdly excited and nervous when he woke up in the morning. It was like his skin was alive and buzzing and he couldn’t keep still.  It took him till after breakfast when he was brushing his teeth to realize that this was all because he was looking forward to talking to Keith. The last time he had planned to talk to Keith was when they first met and he was hoping they would be friends. It obviously wasn’t the same situation but for some reason it almost felt like it had a similar weight to it. Like whatever happened today was going to change things between them. Maybe they could finally get past whatever childish anger they had for each other and at least be acquaintances. That would be nice.

 

Originally Lance had planned to talk to Keith at the bus stop while they waited. It was supposed to be a simple and easy conversation. He would just walk up and ask if everything was okay and Keith would tell him it was and that would be that. The two of them would maybe move a little closer to some kind of understanding and move on with their lives. Yet, as Lance stood there in the cold Keith didn’t show up. And he continued to not show up as the seconds ticked along. It wasn’t until the bus was on the road that Keith walked out of his house almost like he was sneaking out. Lance thought it was ridiculous cause who would be sneaking out to go to school?

 

Lance got on the bus and considered moving to sit next to Keith once he sat down but the boy instantly put his headphones on. He leaned against the window and looked out in a typically angsty teen way that Keith could pull off without even trying.

 

When they got off the bus Lance figured that this was the only chance he had. He waited for Keith to get off the bus a few feet away from the door. He watched Keith come down the stairs as he took his headphones off and put them in his backpack. As Keith approached he didn’t even look at him so Lance ended up walking after him once he passed.

 

“Hey Keith! Wait up!” He called and reached out to grab Keith’s arm to try and slow him down.

 

Keith yanked away from the contract and kept walking. “Leave me alone Lance.” he said in a flat tone but Lance didn’t give up.

 

“No. Please just wait. I want to talk about last night.” He started to run after Keith but Keith suddenly stopped and spun, his face unreadable. It happened so quickly that Lance had to skid to a stop so he didn’t run into him.

 

“What about it?” Keith’s tone was dangerous and a chill ran down Lance’s spine. The only reason Lance continued to talk was because he was sure that Keith was just on guard thinking that Lance was about to say something nasty.

 

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay after what happened last night.” He tried to give Keith a warm smile to say that it was okay to talk to him. “Did you guys work it out?”

 

Instead of softening like Lance had expected Keith seemed to bristle even more. He even let out a scoff. “Oh yeah? Golden boy Lance has to make sure he does everything right so he doesn’t feel guilty, doesn’t he? You have to look good so you came over to make sure poor loser Keith is okay.”

 

Lance blinked in confusion. Where had that come from? “No, I just-“

 

“Save it.” Keith cut him off with a shake of his head. “You don’t fool me Lance. You can come over and pretend you care about me but I know you don’t. I know what you are really like. You think you are better than everyone else but I know that you are just as fake as the rest of us. You walk around like your cool and nice and that you have it all together but I know that’s just a mask you put on. It’s not really who you are. Inside you are some lame stupid kid who is just as horrible and mean as the rest of us. Deep down you are just as unlikable as me but you are better at pretending you are someone else. Your grades are fake, your popularity is fake, and your great sports achievements are fake. You are just fake fake fake. You probably haven’t done one genuine thing in your life. You probably wouldn’t have friends anymore if they knew who you really were. I just wish you would stop pretending and admit that you are a fucking fake liar. Stop thinking you're better than me.”

 

Lance froze mid-breath, mid-thought, mid-blink. Where the hell had that come from? And why did it hurt more than anything Keith had ever said before? How the hell did he know Lances worst fear and was able to attack him with it?

 

Lance tried to breathe in but he couldn’t. His chest felt so tight and his hands were trembling. He tried opening his mouth to try and tell Keith that he was wrong but nothing came out.

 

“Yeah. That’s what I thought. You have nothing to say cause you know I’m right.” Keith waited a second more to see if Lance would say something back and when he remained frozen Keith just turned and left.

 

Lance didn’t even notice the group of students who were looking on with confused faces or the ones closer by who stopped to listen. He didn’t even notice a girl who he knew who was trying to talk to him. When he could feel his body again all he did was rush off to the nearest building and find the bathroom before he let himself cry.

 

Someone who had witnessed the whole thing must have gone running to Hunk because not too long after getting their Hunk arrived and knocked on the door he could hear Lance crying behind.

 

“Hey let me in.” He said softly and after a few silent seconds there was the clunk of Lance unlocking the door. It swung open slowly to reveal Lance sitting on the toilet with wet streaks running down his face.

 

Hunk didn’t hesitate to walk into the tiny stall and practically scoop Lance into a hug. Lance clung to the bigger man like his life depended on it and the sobs came harder.

 

Hunk didn’t ask what happened, he had probably gotten the whole story from someone else. He just let Lance cry.

 

I’m-I’m sorry.” Lance eventually blubbered out. “I shouldn’t be reacting this badly.”

 

Hunk pulled back a little to look into his eyes. “No, you have the right to react anyways you need to. He said some horrible things.”

 

“Yeah…he did.” Another wave of tears came at the reminder and Hunk’s frown deepened, wishing there was something he could so for his friend.

 

“You know they were not true, right?” He said as he started rubbing soothing circles into Lances back. “He was just lashing out because of something I’m assuming you know about. It wasn’t about you.”

 

“Wasn’t it though? Wasn’t he just calling me out? I try so hard to be liked by everyone because I’m scared they are going to realize I’m not that great and end up alone.” Lance wouldn’t look at Hunk as he spoke as if he knew it would make him mad.

“But you’re not fake because of that.” Hunk said gruffly as he squeezed Lance tighter. “Everyone has that fear that if they are not the best they can be people won’t like them. And yes I admit you have this fear a little more than everyone else, but putting your best foot forward isn’t being fake. Keith had no place to say any of that because it wasn’t true. Understand me Lance, it isn’t true”

 

Lance pressed his face harder into the crook of Hunk’s neck as if he didn’t want to answer. Both what Hunk and Keith said were tumbling around in his head. Who did he want to believe? Keith was the harsh voice of what he had been telling himself for years and Hunk was what he tried to tell himself to push the thoughts away. It was harder to believe Hunk. It was harder to think positively about himself. So Lance did what he usually did: Pretended he was okay.

 

Pushing away from Hunk Lance whipped away his tears. “Thanks man. I think I just need some time. I’m feeling better already though, so thanks. “

 

“Do you want to go home or something?” Hunk leaned down to get a good look at lance's face, his voice still caked with concern.

 

“Nope!” Lance chirped cheerfully and turned away from Hunk just in case he could find something. “Classes await!”

 

Hunk furrowed his brow. Usually Lance took any chance to take a day off school, but Lance was obviously forcing himself today. Hunk didn’t know what to do in this situation at all. When Lance got in this kind of mood he was hard to work with because he was so adamant to deal with his problems on his own. Sadly, Hunk was just going have to wait for when Lance wanted to talk again. Either way the situation was far from over.

 

Lance thinking he was in the clear turned to leave the bathroom when Hunk spoke up. “Do you want me to talk to Keith?”

 

Spinning around faster than humanly possible to face Hunk Lance shook his head. “No no no no! Don’t do that! He will for sure think I sent you to fight my battles and he will make fun of me even more. I’ll handle it when I’m ready, okay?”

 

Hunk bit his lip and looked intently as his friend. Lance was a person who could make bad decisions without even realizing it and he was even more inclined to make them when he was upset. Hunk knew it probably wasn’t smart to let Lance do whatever he wanted, but there was only so much that he could do. “Okay, but come talk to me about it first.”

 

“Sure sure. Will do big guy.” Lance said with that forced smile and Hunk sighed. He wasn’t sure if Lance would actually come talk to him first but he really hoped so. A lot of Lance’s problems could be avoided that way.

 

With that the two of them left the bathroom and Lance was trying so hard to be normal. He waved and smiled at people but he was more like an echo of himself. Hunk knew that what Keith said was slowly eating away at him. It was so ironic that Lance thought that he was fake because when Lance was actually trying to be fake everyone could tell. He was horrible at hiding how he actually felt and doing things he didn’t want to.

 

Lance and Keith avoided each other for the rest of the day. Lance had no idea what Keith was feeling about what happened or if he was regretful and honestly Lance didn’t care. He was constantly switching between being mad at Keith and being upset about what he said. When he saw him on the bus heading home Lance wanted to scream and yell at him but he knew that this wasn’t the right time or place. He needed time to cool down. Thankfully it was the weekend and Lance wouldn’t have to think about Keith for two whole days if things went his way.

 

Lance should have known that things never go his way.

 

That night he declined from playing Overwatch with his friends. His heart just wasn’t in it and he couldn’t handle pretending to be happy for much longer. He knew he could have talked to his friends about what happened but that took so much energy too. For once in his life he really just wanted to be alone.

 

This was a bad choice, however. As Lance laid in bed all he could do was think about what Keith had said about him over and over again. He ended up crying into his pillow and wondering how many other people thought the same thing about him. How many people smiled at him but deep down hated him? Was it just Keith? Or was it everyone?

 

Lance ended up crying himself to sleep and even though he had gone to bed very early he didn’t get up till late morning the next day. After getting breakfast he went back into his room to do the same thing all over again. RedLion had been messaging him since late last night but Lance just didn’t want to talk to him. Deep down he knew talking to him might make him feel better but Lance just kind of wanted to be sad and angry. Was it bad of him that he didn’t want to get over it just yet?

 

It was ironic that Lance had woken up that day thinking that him and Keith might start taking steps to fix their relationship and instead it ended up worse than before.

 

That night he ignored all his friends and instead laid on his bed playing on his 3Ds. It was a mindless game where he just had to move his characters and attack the enemy. At one point there was a call from Hunk that he didn’t answer but prompted him to text him after and lie saying he was having a family night. Hunk was smart and he was pretty sure that Hunk would figure out it was a lie but he didn’t care much. He just wanted to be alone.

 

It was Sunday that RedLion finally pulled him out of his moping.

 

**RedLion: Hey. I get your upset about something and don’t want to talk to any of us. MasterChef won’t tell any of us why you are ignoring us and I think that’s loyal of him. I just wanted to let you know I’m going to stop messaging you, but I’ll be waiting for when you want to talk. I’m always here for you.**

Lance's lip trembled as he read the message. How was RedLion so nice? So good? Why couldn’t Keith be like him and have some compassion? For once Lance actually wanted to talk.

 

**MemeKing: Hey**

**MemeKing: Sorry for disappearing for a while.**

**MemeKing: If you are free I’m ready to talk.**

**It took no time for RedLion to message back as if he had been staring at his phone waiting.**

**RedLion: Of course I am. Do you want to talk on the phone?**

 

**MemeKing: No, it’s easier for me to talk about my feelings through messages.**

**MemeKing: It gives me more time to think about what to say.**

**RedLion: Okay that’s fine. You can’t start whenever you are ready then.**

**MemeKing: So, AssholeTM, remember him?**

**RedLion: Of course you talk about the shitty stuff he does all the time.**

**MemeKing: Remember how I told you that sometimes I think that I’m faking everything about myself and I’m really just a dull, boring person?**

**RedLion: I 100% disagree but yes I do remember that.**

**MemeKing: Well I went up to this guy and asked him if he was okay because something had happened to him and he flipped out on me and told me pretty much that I was a fake asshole and only did everything for attention and that I should just tell everyone how I was really a loser and stuff.**

**MemeKing: And I guess... that just really got to me you know? Like it’s one thing to think that you suck and it’s another to have someone tell you that you are or agree with you.**

**MemeKing: I pretty much lost it and I’ve been a wreak ever since.**

**RedLion: what a fucking asshole**

**RedLion: God I want to go beat this fucker up so bad.**

**RedLion: Why does he think he has the right to say that to someone?**

**RedLion: I swear to god that that guy was just an asshole.**

**RedLion: Whatever he said wasn’t true.**

**RedLion: You are not fake you are the most genuine person I know. You have your emotions on your sleeves and you love so fiercely and you do everything with your entire being. I don’t know who gave you this idea that you are not enough and if it was assholeTM then that’s even more reason to tell him to fuck off.**

**RedLion: You are one of the most amazing people I have ever met and my life is honestly better with you in it.**

**MemeKing: I… I don’t know what to say. That was so nice. I’m actually crying believe it or not.**

**MemeKing: Stupid I know**

**RedLion: Not stupid. Never stupid. It’s okay to feel and cry. Especially after someone was so mean to you.**

**MemeKing: yeah you are right.**

**MemeKing: But even if I find it in myself to feel better about this situation I don’t know how to face him.**

**RedLion: Honestly? Just punch him.**

**MemeKing: You think I should punch him?**

**RedLion: Yeah! Teach that asshole a lesson. Show him how real you really are.**

**MemeKing: I mean I am mad but I don’t know if that’s too far…**

**RedLion: he’s been an asshole to you for a long time. Words haven’t changed anything. He obviously thinks he can get away with it.**

**RedLion: Don’t let him get away with it anymore.**

**MemeKing: So you think I should just punch him and walk away?”**

**RedLion: No. Punch him and then say something like hey asshole. Do you think you can just say whatever you want to someone without consequences? You can’t go around and hurt people just because you feel like it. So go fuck yourself and think about changing your life cause obviously there is something wrong with you if you think you could say something like that just because I wanted to make sure you were okay.**

**MemeKing: wow. I actually like that a lot.**

**MemeKing: I might actually do that.**

**RedLion: It will for sure make you feel better.**

**RedLion: you don’t deserve to feel like shit.**

 

For the rest of the day RedLion and Lance talked constantly. Most of it was about Lance just talking through his feelings and why he never felt like he was good enough or that he was just an empty shell trying to impress people. In the end RedLion suggested talking to a therapist about this kind of thing. Lance didn’t know how he felt about that at first but RedLion told him that he had seen therapists before. It helped to just talk sometimes and while RedLion would always be there for him sometimes it was better to see a professional who actually knew what to do about situations. Lance was nervous about it because that would mean he would have to talk to his mom about the whole thing and he didn’t know how that would go but he promised RedLion he would think about it.

 

Lance got in bed that night thinking about what he would do about Keith the next day. The more he thought about it the angrier he got. RedLion was right. Why did Keith think he had the right to say that to him? He didn’t even know Lance that well and it was obviously a problem with himself and not Lance. He needed to be taught a lesson and Lance realized that punching was probably the language that Keith used.

 

Lance usually wasn’t a violent person but maybe this much was okay. It was something that Lance felt he had to do the more he thought about it. Thing were going to end with Keith, but not in the positive way he thought it was going to originally Now Lance was just out for revenge.

 

For the rest of the night Lance watched videos on how to punch properly. He didn’t want to break his hand but he also wanted to give Keith a good punch. One he wouldn’t forget for the rest of his life. After an hour and a few test swings Lance felt confident with his technique.

 

Waking up the next day Lance felt jittery like his blood had turned into caffeine. His energy was on the same level of a kid waking up on Christmas morning. His younger sister gave him a weird look when he bounced around in the kitchen getting his breakfast ready.

 

“What’s got you so weird?” She asked looking him up and down like he was an alien.

 

“Don’t worry your little head kid.” He reached out and ruffled her hair which made her swat at his hand. “Today I’m becoming a real man.”

 

Her nose scrunched up in disgust and she took a few steps away from him. “Gross. Why would you tell me that?”

 

Lances eyes widened when he realized what she was thinking. “Oh god no that’s not what I mean. “ Instead of believing him she shook her head and started to walk away with her milk glass. “Oh my god come back I’m not doing what you think I’m doing. Please.”

 

“Sure whatever I don’t want to know.” She called over her shoulder and disappeared into her room before Lance could say anything else.

 

Lance slumped against the counter and for a second wished that’s what was happening. He wished instead he was meeting with RedLion today for a date or something instead of this shitty situation. Lance just wished Keith wasn’t a problem in his life.

 

When it was time for Lance to go to the bus stop Lance was at the peak of nervousness. He swung his fist in practice a few times before he walked out the door.

 

Keith was already there. He was looking down at his phone typing something. He was so involved in the message that he didn’t hear Lance storming across the street. As soon as Lance had seen Keith’s face his blood had boiled. All hesitations he had about doing this was gone. Keith had hurt him and he needed to pay for that.

 

Lance was practically seeing red as he stormed across the street and something in the back of his head told him to stop. This wasn’t who he was. He was way too angry. He should just talk to Keith instead of resorting to violence.

 

Lance didn’t listen to that voice.

 

When Lance was across the street he got his fist ready and didn’t stop moving. “Hey Keith.” He said in a tone that was more dangerous and angry then he had ever heard come from his mouth before. Keith looked up from his phone, his face in the transition from calm to annoyed and his eyes not having met Lances yet when Lance’s fist flew through the air and landed with a sickening crunch against Keith’s nose.

 

Lance watched satisfied as Keith stumbled back, his face full of shock, till he tripped and fell on his butt. “ What the f-“ he started to spit but Lance was fired up and words started flying from his mouth as he had practiced them over and over again last night.

 

“Do you think you can just say whatever you want to someone without consequences Keith? You just can’t go around and hurt people just because you feel like it. People are not your playthings to lash out your emotions on. So here is some advice: go fuck yourself and think about changing your life cause obviously there is something wrong with you if you think you can say something like that just because I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

 

Keith was holding his nose with a look of rage but as Lance kept going his face fell more and more into confusion. Lance didn’t notice as Keith’s eyes darted around as pieces started to fall together in his head. Keith’s eyes slowly raised up to look at Lances heaving chest and then his blue eyes that looked like a storm was raging in them.

 

“MemeKing?” Keith said, his voice wavering. Keith didn’t know what he was feeling in that moment but it was probably a mix of dread and excitement. He wanted to be wrong but how could he be when he had typed those exact words last night to his internet friend?

 

The look on Lance's face was answer enough. Lance for a second thought he had misheard Keith but the longer Keith stared at him in almost horror Lance was sure he heard what he had just said. It didn’t keep him from asking again anyways. “What did you just call me?”

 

Keith’s eyes tried searching for the answers in Lance’s eyes but Keith quickly realized he knew most of them already. His hand slid away from his nose to reveal the blood and he looked down at his bloody hand. “I’m AssholeTM. This whole time it’s been me.” He said mostly to himself. “How did I never see it? It was right in front of my face the whole time. Was it just so close that I was blind? or maybe I just didn’t want to see it?”

 

Keith was blabbering and it was making Lance angrier because he had no idea what he was saying. He had prepared for Keith to punch him back or yell at him but this seemingly shocked Keith Lance didn’t know how to handle.

 

“What are you saying? Why are you not punching me?” Lance clenched his fists so hard they were shaking. This wasn’t satisfying at all. He wanted more than this.

 

“Lance…You are MemeKing, aren’t you?” Keith said and then tried getting up. He grunted when his world started to tilt and more blood dripped from his nose.

 

“How do you know that name?” Lance said between clenched teeth.

 

Keith laughed humorlessly and shrugged. “I know because I’m RedLion.”

 

The words hit lance like a semi-truck. He never once in his life thought those words would come from Keith’s mouth. He wasn’t sure what to do since it was so obviously not true. “Bullshit. Why are you doing this? How do you even know that name? Did you stalk my profile or something?”

 

“No, I didn’t. God this is fucking crazy. Pick up my phone and see what’s on there.” Keith rubbed at his forehead and motioned to his phone on the ground with his other hand.

 

Lances anger was fading and he was getting more and more confused. Picking up Keith’s phone he looked at what was on the screen. A skype conversation had been pulled up. At the top it said MemeKing and in the box there was writing.

 

RedLion: Hey, how are you feeling today? Are you planning on punching the asshole? I know I told you to do it in the heat of the moment but I wanted to make sure you thought it through. I’ve been known to be a hot head and maybe I’m not the best person to talk to about it. Maybe MasterChef? If you want to punch him I’m not going to stop you but

 

The line flashed where he had stopped typing. That was obviously where he had stopped typing when Lance had called out to him.

 

Dread was pooling in Lance's stomach. This couldn’t be real. It had to be some kind of well thought out trick. Lance started scrolling desperately through the old messages and every single one of them was what Lance remembered.

 

The last of Lance’s anger left his body. “How?” He whispered not looking at Keith. “How can you be him? How are you the same person? RedLion is my friend. Keith hates my guts. It doesn’t match up.”

 

“I don’t hate your guts.” Keith said looking at the floor. If Lance didn’t know any better he would say that Keith looked ashamed.

 

Lance shook his head as if to shake away what Keith had said. “I don’t believe that. You haven’t liked me since day one.”

 

Keith threw his head back as if he was talking to the sky. “God this is so fucked up.” He slowly lowered his head to try and make eye contact with Lance but Lance refused to meet his eyes and instead focused on the blood dripping from his nose. “I already told you about this. The kid in my last foster home. I know it’s not an excuse but I honestly never hated you Lance.

 

Lance could feel his chin trembling. He didn’t feel like he was about to cry but if he was he didn’t want to do it in front of Keith. “I can’t do this. I just can’t. I’m leaving.”

 

“Lance wait!” Keith called after him desperately but Lance didn’t wait.

 

 He felt like he couldn’t breathe. His whole world was turned upside down. Keith being RedLion made no sense. How could he be friends with Keith let alone have a crush on him? Lance was starting to feel sick. All the moments with RedLion was being replaced with Keith’s face. Every memory felt wrong and he didn’t know what to believe anymore.

 

Storming back into his house he ignored his mom’s call of asking him what he was doing and ran into his room. He quickly locked himself in his room and threw his backpack to the ground before falling into his bed.

 

What the hell was going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance was a little out of character in this chapter, wasn't he? I feel like usually Keith is depicted as not keeping his cool but Keith really hit a cord with Lance. Of course RedLion was the one to escalated the situation so it wasn't all Lance.
> 
> Once again I would love to hear everyone's opinion on what happened and thoughts on whats going to happen next!
> 
> (The notes for the first chapter are under this one and I have no idea so why so just ignore that??)


	6. Pass Me The Superglue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the reveal is here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! For those of you invested in this story (which is a miracle in the first place) I got this out as quickly as I could. My days are super fucking busy. I wake up at 6 to be at work at 7 and work till I go to class in the afternoon and that ends up being 9-11 hours straight then I go back to my dorms to do homework and walk my ferret and then go to bed early to do it all over again. So I don't get a lot of free time. I'm not saying this for pity or anything, I just wanted to make it clear that it just means so much to me that people are reading this with all its flaws and are leaving me amazing comments that I made time to write this. I wanted to share this with you all and hopefully, give you something nice in your day. Cause god knows I've had my days where reading a fanfic was all I had.
> 
> On that note, a lot of my planning only went up to the last chapter. I, of course, have whats happening planned out but the details I planned have gone way down. I hope all of this makes sense and isn't a letdown. I really want to create a satisfying ending for everyone!
> 
> And with all that boring talking please enjoy!

Getting home Lance instantly threw himself into bed. Tears were getting ready to overflow and he was just so fucking confused. Keith and RedLion? RedLion and Keith? It was like putting a round piece in a square hole. It could fit but it didn’t fit right. It didn’t make any sense.

 

Before Lance could get too far down his hole there was a harsh knocking on the door. “Lance!” his mother called. “What are you doing? You missed the bus!”

 

“I’m not going to school!” Lance yelled into his pillow. He wasn’t sure if it was too muffled to understand but she responded instantly so he guessed it was fine. Mothers have super-powered ears he was sure. Or at least his did.

 

“Why the hell not?” he could hear the anger rising in his mom's voice and he just didn’t have the energy to deal with that right now.

 

“I’m heartbroken mom!” Lance called. He meant to sound humorous but his voice cracked in the middle and faded out sadly at the end revealing just how bad he was feeling.

 

The other side of the door fell silent for so long that Lance wasn’t sure if his mom had left or not. Finally she said softly. “Heartbroken?”

 

“Yeah.” He said in an equally soft voice and he felt his lip start to tremble. “I'm heartbroken”

  
There was another silence and Lance knew his mom was trying to figure out exactly what was going on. She probably had no idea Lance had even liked someone let alone had the time to get his heart broken. “Do you want to talk?” She eventually asked.

  
Lance thought for a minute. Did he want to talk? Wasn’t that supposed to be helpful and stuff? Like you get a pint of ice cream watch movies, talk, and cry? Or was that only allowed when you got broken up with?

 

But Lance didn’t even know what to talk about at this point. He wasn’t even really sure what was going on yet. He needed some time to think.

  
“I...I don't know. Not yet I don’t think” Lance tried to sound confident in his choice even though he was far from it.

  
“That’s perfectly okay Mijo.” There was another silence. “Does it have to do with Keith?”  


Lance groaned frustratedly into his pillow before lifting his head and calling. “Mama I'm heartbroken! I don't want to talk about it right now!”

  
“Okay baby I get it. Just know I'm here when you need to talk.” His mom’s voice sounded really concerned and Lance almost wished that he did want to talk his mom. He knew what it felt like to be unable to help someone even though you really wanted to.

 

Yet Lance held his ground. This time was for him, he didn’t need to worry about anyone else right now. “Okay. Thank you Mamma.”

 

He heard her footsteps walk away and let out a sigh of relief. He was alone to think now but where to even start? There were so many years looming over him. So many conflicting feelings. And honestly a lot of anger. Why had Keith cared about him online but hated him in real life? Why did Keith never give him a real chance? And what did Keith think of him now?

 

Lance ended up getting up and pacing his room. He could just sit down right now. This was way too big. Should he tell Hunk about this? Lance wasn’t sure if he wanted Hunks input in that moment. He was a great guy but Lance didn’t know if he needed a great guy right now. Hunk would want Lance to go over and talk it out with Keith and make up but that wasn’t always the answer. Some things were not meant to be fixed. Lance wasn’t sure if this was meant to be fixed.

 

After some thinking Lance decided he would first try to wrap his head around that they were the same person. Walking over to his desk he turned on his laptop and sat down. Skype popped up on its own and Lance didn’t waste any time opening up their chat log.

 

He started scrolling back a few days and started reading a random conversation. After each response he would sit and imagine Keith saying that to him out loud. The more he read the more it was easy to see Keith saying these things. He could see more and more of Keith’s personality in their conversations and even read over some things Keith had said about himself and things Lance had said about Keith and wondered how it took so long for them to figure out they were each other. He guessed that no one would ever be thinking about their internet friend being someone they knew in real life. However, you would think when one person was like hey some guy told me this would you not go wow jeez I told someone that same exact thing today? He guessed they were both just stupid.

 

So Lance couldn’t try to hide away from it anymore. Paired with what Keith himself had said, all the evidence pointed to Keith and RedLion being the same. So what did he do now? How did he move on from this?

 

He needed to talk to someone but not his mom. Someone who knew RedLion. Someone who would tell them what they thought and was someone like a parental figure. Lance was glad he had a friend who fit that criteria exactly.

 

Lance didn’t over think it. He picked up his phone and called Shiro. It rang a few times and Lance got a little nervous that he would not pick up. However, right before lance gave up the line picked up.

 

“Lance?” His voice came over the speaker full of concern. “Is something wrong?”

 

“Hey Shiro.” Lance tried to sound casual even though he was freaking out on the inside. “ I’m actually having a crisis. Do you have time to talk?”

 

“Yeah, I have some time. What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Shiro’s voice only got more concern even though Lance had tried to make it seem like not a super big deal.

 

“Yeah no, I’m fine. It’s just that I found out the name and face behind RedLion.” Just saying it out loud almost made Lance lose it all over again.

  
  
It was silent on the line before Shiro let out a whoosh of air. “Hey that's great! I'm glad he shared that with you.”

  
  
“No. It's actually not great. Turns out I knew him the whole time?” Lances voice squeaked it out like he was asking a question and his leg was bouncing a million miles per hour.

  
  
There was a very long pause as Shiro tried to figure out if he had heard Lance right or not “...You what?”

  
  
Lance laughed humorlessly at just how ridiculous the situation was. “I know right. He lives across the street. I’ve known him for nine years. I knew him before I met RedLion. He's the asshole I've been fighting with the whole time.”

  
  
“Wait... give me a second.” There was more silence and Lance knew Shiro was struggling to understand just exactly Lance was saying. He didn’t blame the guy. This situation was weird as hell.” So…You already know him?”

  
  
“Yeah and he was practically my sworn enemy.” Lance dropped his head so his forehead hit his desk. “I don't know what to do now. I don't know how to make them one person. Like I looked through that chat and it’s now obvious that they are the same person but my head still doesn’t like that fact. How can these two totally different people in my head really just be him? How can half of me have a huge fat crush on him and the other hate him to the point I just punched him.”

  
  
“Wait, Lance, slow down.” Lance could practically hear Shiro’s brain working overtime. “You just punched him? Because he's RedLion?”

  
  
“No that was for other reasons.” Lance sighed and lifted his head back up so he could rub his forehead. He was definitely getting a headache from all of this. “Sorry, this is a lot. I know.”

  
  
“No, it's okay. I just have to catch up. Can you just start from the beginning? I don’t care how long it takes.”

  
  
Lance took a deep breath then dived in while trying not to over think it all. It took a few minutes to tell Shiro the whole story spark notes edition but Lance was confident at the end Shiro had all the information he needed

 

“Okay…wow. This is…complicated.” Shiro spoke slowly as if he was dedicating most of his brain power to go over the whole situation again.

 

“You are telling me, dude.” Lance spun around in his chair slowly till he was faced away from his desk slumped back dramatically

 

“So I guess the question is what do you do now? Are you going to stay mad at him? Forgive him?”  


“That’s the thing Shiro.” Lance ran a hand down his face in frustration. “I don’t know what to do. I want to be mad at him. He hated me in real life for so long and I just…I just don’t understand it.”

 

Shiro let out a long thinking ‘hmmm’ before he spoke. “Do you know why he hated you?”

 

Lance was about to say he didn’t when he realized he actually did. He thought back to that conversation with the kid in his fostering home. He remembered there was more there too. What else had Keith said?  


“Give me a second Shiro.” Lance mumbled as he spun back around to face his laptop and started scrolling. It took him longer then he liked but he finally found the conversation he was looking for.

 

It was the conversation the day that they had fought about Lance lying about printing a paper from the library. Ironically enough he was instead talking to Allura about his crush on Keith.

 

Keith had talked about how he was tired of the fighting he and Lance did. He had wanted to find a middle ground but didn’t think Lance would. Then there was one chunk that really got Lances heart beating.

 

**RedLion: See I met this guy when I was little. He was really outgoing and loved by everyone. I had just gotten out of the situation with the kid who bullied me and I couldn’t help but see them as the same. I flat out ignored him and told him I didn’t like him and then he became angry. I don’t see him that way anymore. Truthfully he’s a stupid and honest guy but we are just stuck in this place of always fighting. I don’t know if he sees it that way or if he really hates me. I just don’t think the situation can be fixed.**

 

Lances eyes ran over the words over and over again. It was obviously shitty reason for the fighting they had been doing for years and years but Lance finally understood. He understood that it was a trauma that had Keith acting that way. Lance could feel more of his anger fade away. Lance didn’t really know what Keith had gone through as a child. He didn’t know how horrible it had been but what little he had told Lance didn’t seem like the best time. Could he really blame little Keith for being on guard right after getting out of the situation? Not really. He wished Keith had come to him later and talked to him instead of letting the fighting keep going but he had to ask himself if he would have done the same in Keith’s position. Maybe not.

 

“Hey Lance you okay? You have been quiet for a long time.” Shiro's voice made him jump. He had kind of forgotten about the phone pressed to his ear.

 

“Yeah, I’m okay. I just remembered something Keith had told me about why he had treated some guy badly. Turns out that guy was me… and I can’t fault him for his reasons considering he was a child when this all started.”

 

“Well that sounds mature of you Lance. Does it help you decide what you want to do?”

 

Lance thought for a second, his eyes running over the message again. “No…not really. Like I understand why he did what he did now but that doesn’t really erase years of shitty behavior. I just don’t know how to deal with this situation. There is no book on what to do when your online crush turns into your childhood enemy. What do you think Shiro? What kind of action am I supposed to take?”

 

“Hmm.” Shiro was quiet as he thought again and it was agony for Lance to just sit there and wait. He felt like he was standing on pins and needles and he just couldn’t sit still. He started punching and playing with a pen on his desk until Shiro finally spoke up. I don’t know the whole story so I will do my best with the information I got. To me it sounds like neither of you are innocent. You have spent years fighting and going at each other over something that happened in your childhood. Now that you know that Keith is more then you originally thought I think at this point you don’t need to decide if you want to be friends with him or whatever comes next for you two, but decide if you want to talk to him and keep him in your life one way or another. Don’t think about what you have to do to get to that point or if it’s even possible. You just have to think about how you would feel if he was gone. Then if you decide you want to keep him in your life just go up to him and talk. You don’t have to hash it all out at one but ease into a new relationship little by little. If you don’t talk at then nothing will change. So I’ll rephrase. You have two choices. DO you want him in your life? If yes then talk to him. If you don’t then ignore him forever.”

 

Lance already knew everything that Shiro was saying. It was pretty obvious but for some reason having Shiro lay it out in front of him was easier to understand. It was like all the noise in his head parted to show two paths in front of him. He didn’t have to try and analyze their relationship or anything crazy. He had one simple choice. Did he want Keith in his life or not?

 

Lance let out a sigh and it was like all his frustration was flowing out of him. “You have always been old and wise my friend. I knew it was right to call you.”

 

“What that helpful?” there was a little bit of relief in Shiro’s voice and Lance wondered if he had actually just pulled all of that out of his ass and hoped it worked. If he didn’t Lance didn’t care if it was out of his ass cause he honestly felt better.

 

“It was…I had so much going on in my head I didn’t stop to look at what I honestly needed to do.”

 

“Do you know now what you are going to do?”

 

“….No. I still need time to think.” Lance looked away guiltily as if Shiro could see him somehow.

 

“Good.” Lance’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion. That wasn’t what he expected to hear. “I don’t think you need to rush this. But don’t take too long. Sometimes time makes fixable things unfixable.”

 

“I won’t Shiro. Thanks for everything.”

 

“Of course.” Shiro paused as if he was waiting for Lance to say something else. When he didn’t he said cautiously. “Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

 

“Not right now. I think I just need time now.”

 

“Okay. I believe in you Lance.”

 

“Thanks dad.” Lance said, a smile stretched across his face.

 

“You welcome son.” Shiro said instantly in a dead serious voice.

 

Lance burst out laughing just as Shiro hung up. He knew Shiro had said it just to cheer him up but that didn’t dampen the effect. Shiro was such a great guy and Lance was just so thankful he had him in his life. He was glad he had all his friends in his life. Hunk, Allura, Pidge, Shiro, and- … and RedLion.

 

“Fuck.” Lance dropped his head to his desk and cursed again when he slammed it down a little too hard.

 

After that Lance spent all day thinking and then avoiding thinking. After his mom went to work he got out his Xbox and played Borderlands instead of facing his real life. He just didn’t want to think about it. He had made progress with Shiro and now he needed a break. All morning had been dedicated to thinking about it and his brain was just so tired.

 

At about lunch his phone went off. He figured it would be Hunk asking him what had happened after he saw Keith or something but the words made him freeze.

 

**RedLion: Lance we need to talk.**

 

Lance found it difficult to swallow the bite of burrito in his mouth as he stared down at the message. It was such simple words but it had so much meaning behind it. The only good thing about the message was that he now knew where Keith stood. Keith wanted to talk it out. Keith had things he wanted to say to him. Keith didn’t want to push him away. Lance just wasn’t sure if he felt the same.

 

Pushing his phone away Lance finished eating his lunch and went back to his video game. Every once and awhile his eyes would gravitate back to his phone still visible on the counter in the kitchen. His eyes would snap back to the screen when he realized what he was doing. He just wasn’t ready for whatever conversation they needed to have.

 

Lance didn’t check his phone at all till he was getting into bed. The group chat was silent so it seemed that word had gotten around that something had happened. That’s probably why he had a ton of other messages.

 

The most recent one was from Keith.

 

**RedLion: Don’t ignore me Lance.**

 

Lance quickly moved on to the next one.

 

**BirdBabe: Hey did you really get into a fight with RedLion??? Hunk said you punched him?? Which makes no sense like when did you guys even meet???**

 

Lance sighed. Hunk was so bad about keeping his mouth shut when it came to Pidge. She could get any kind of information out of him.

 

**MemeKing: Yeah. I did. I don’t want to talk about it right now.**

 

Backing out of the messages even though he saw that Pidge was writing he moved to the next one.

 

**SpacePrincess: Lance I hope you are okay. Hunk said that something happened to you today but he didn’t go into detail. Nothing bad I hope?**

 

**Memeking: I’m fine Allura. Just had a bad day.**

 

She wasn’t online anymore so Lance didn’t bother to wait and see if she would respond.

 

The next message was from shorty after Keith had messaged him. It was from Hunk.

 

**MasterChef: Hey dude I just saw Keith? He had to go to the hospital this morning to make sure his nose wasn’t broken and he said to ask you what happened??**

**MasterChef: You didn’t punch him did you? I said to talk to me first dude!**

 

There was a gap in time before he had gotten another message from Hunk.

 

**MasterChef: Okay I realize now that sounded like I was scolding you dude but I wasn’t so can you talk to me? Keith is acting real weird and every time I ask him to talk to me he says to talk to you instead.**

 

The last message from Hunk was from an hour ago.

 

**MasterChef: Can I come over?**

 

Lance bit his lip. Should he talk to Hunk? He really didn’t want to right now. He was in his avoidance stage right now and he really didn’t need another person to try and make him patch it up with Keith.

 

**MemeKing: Hey dude. I’m going to say one thing and then I’m going to go to bed. We can talk more about it in the future but I just can’t right now. I hope you understand.**

**The message was instant like Hunk had already had the response typed.**

**MasterChef: Of course dude. Say what you need to say I understand.**

**MemeKing: Okay here it goes.**

**MemeKing: RedLion told me to punch Keith and so I did and when I punched Keith somehow Keith connected the dots and it turns out that Keith is RedLion. That’s all goodnight.**

**MasterChef: Uh what???**

**MasterChef: You can’t leave me hanging there**

**MasterChef: What do you mean Keith is RedLion?**

**MemeKing: If you want more you can ask him yourself. Sorry.**

Lance put his phone on his side table and closed his eyes. He fell asleep to the buzzing of his phone as his friends tried to reach him.

 

Lance went to school the next day. Of course he did. His mom smiled at him sympathetically but firmly handed him his backpack telling him his grace period was over.

 

Lance still had some tricks up his sleeve however. He had begged his brother to drive him to school for a few days in exchange for doing his chores for a few weeks. His brother hated getting up early but he hatted chores even more so he agreed.

 

When his brother shuffled out in pajamas they moved to the car and Lance got in not even bothering to check if the bus had already come to get Keith yet. He was almost sure as they drove past he saw someone wearing red in the rearview mirror.

 

For the next few days Lance made it his mission to avoid Keith. If he saw Keith trying to walk up to him or even in the vicinity of him he would run the other way. In classes they had together he would come right after the last bell and sit right by the door so he could book it right after class ended. Keith kept sending him messages but Lance ignored every single one of them. He knew he was being childish but he couldn’t help it. He just wasn’t ready.

 

He knew Keith was getting frustrated with him. He was honestly surprised he hadn’t come banging on Lance's door yet. Maybe he just didn’t want to get Lance’s family involved.

 

Either way, Lance was doing a marvelous job at avoiding his problems and honestly it didn’t feel good. The day he had went back to school Hunk had come after him. He had made Lance tell him exactly what happened but when Hunk tried to talk it out with him and get all the details Lance shut him down. His friend was sad that Lance was avoiding it but he knew that when Lance had his mind set on something it was hard to change it.

 

Lance was pretty sure that Hunk had talked to Keith too. Lance kind of wanted to ask him what Keith said but Lance also knew that Hunk always tried to be loyal and probably wouldn’t give up that information easily. He would just tell him to ask Keith himself knowing that’s the opposite of what he wanted.

 

This whole thing was kind of wreaking his social life too. At school he never had the time to hang around and talk with people and his online gaming sessions were kind of on hold till him and Keith did something. His friends now kind of knew what was going on but Shiro had the most knowledge about it.

 

At the end of the week Lance was honestly exhausted. He thought that as time went Keith would give up but the guy just got more and more persistent at cornering Lance. Lance thankfully was a slippery guy and it ended up being some kind of dance between the two of them. The day he had actually knocked on the door was Friday, almost a week after it had happened, and he made his mom turn him away. It took a little extra convincing but he finally huffed and turned around to go back home. Lance sighed in relief thankful that he hadn’t just pushed past his mom and come for him.

 

However, thanks to that little stunt things were not over that night. His mom came into his room and sat next to him, resting her hand reassuringly on his leg.

 

“Lance honey. You have been avoiding Keith all week. Tell me what happened.”

 

Lance pursed his lips and stared hard at his DS and he defeated an enemy.

 

“Lance don’t you dare try to ignore me.” She said with an unamused face so Lance sighed and closed his DS

 

“Sorry mama. I just... things are a mess.” He slumped back into his pillow looking positively pitiful.

 

“You are not running from your problems, are you?” His mom reached out and lifted his face with her hand so they were forced to make eye contact.

 

Lance looked away from his with a sheepish smile and his mom dropped the hand under his chin and slapped him lightly on his leg. “Lance! Deja de ser estúpido! Why do you do this to yourself?” “I don’t know mama.” Lance shrugged half heartedly. “I’m a stupid boy.” “You are not a stupid boy.” Her words were practically one big sigh. “Sometimes you just do stupid things.” Lance chuckled to himself even though it sounded hollow. “Thanks for that mama” “I must keep my children humble.” She said and ruffled his hair. “Now tell me what happened. Why have you been down all week?”

  
Lance figured that if there was any time to talk to him mom now was the time. He explained what had happened to his mom as easily as he good and she only interrupted with questions a few times

 

She looked down at her feet with narrowed eyes before she looked up at him with her head tilted to the side. “Mijo I do not understand why you are so upset about this?”

 

“Uh. I guess it’s just that I don’t know if I want to try and fix my relationship with him. Just because Keith was also my internet friend doesn’t mean that he didn’t so all those mean things to me and I didn’t do them to him. Keith is still that angry guy and he hurt me and I don’t know if I want to move past that, no matter how big my crush on him was.” Lance pulled his legs up to his chest as if to form some protective ball from the truth.

 

“Well did you give him a chance to apologize?” She tried to make him look at her again but it was Lance's turn to be stubborn.

 

“No…” Lance muttered under his breath while trying to make himself even smaller in his ball.

 

“See. You are too stuck in the past you are not looking to the future. You are not seeing how amazing this situation was!”

 

Lance made a ‘pshhhh’ noise before speaking. “Amazing? What do you mean?”  
  
“Oh, my stupid son.” Scooting back on his bed she maneuvered herself till she was sitting right next to him with her arms wrapped around him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Do you know how hard it is to fall in love with someone for real? Humans are so complex and we keep so much more hidden. That’s why in my opinion so many relationships now end in divorce. You got lucky. You see out in the world you only got the outside of Keith. You saw the armor he put out for the world to see. And yes, because of his past it didn’t go together well with what you were putting out there, but that’s why this is amazing! I don’t go online much but I know that it’s so much easier to talk thought typing. I’m guilty enough to have used a text to tell your father I was mad. It so much easier to be who you really are when you don’t have to see the consequences. Online you met the Keith he carries inside himself. The one he only shows people he trusts. You now know Keith better than you ever would just knowing him as Keith from across the street. You got to hear things and talk about things that could have taken years of being in a relationship for that boy to say out loud. Its also amazing that you fell in love with the most honest version of him without a name or a face. I think in itself that's pretty amazing and lucky. You saw what he really was like without all that less important stuff and you fell for him.”

 

Lance pulled back a little so he could see more of his moms face. “I...I guess I see what you are saying. You are saying that I shouldn’t be thrown off by this whole two sides of one person but see it as layers? Like the Keith I see at school is just a shield he uses to protect the inside which is the Keith I met online? Like that I shouldn’t judge him based off of all the fighting we did because that wasn’t who he really was?”

 

“I think so.” A sheepish grin similar to Lance’s grew on her face. “I’m honestly talking out of my butt.”

 

“Mom! Not you too!” Lance laughed. “I think everyone has been doing that when talking to me!”

 

One they both got a good laugh out the mood turned serious again. “But really, don’t let whatever happened between you keep you back. If you really can’t forgive him then I guess there is no changing that. But if you realize that neither of you were innocent, and that the real Keith you met is someone you want to get to know even better, then talk to him. Okay, Mijo?”

 

“Yes Mama. I think I understand now.”

 

“Good boy” she said warmly and leaned over to press a kiss to his head before she got up and exited his room.

 

She had definitely given him things to think about. Combined with Shiro It made him see what was most important. Did he want Keith in his life anymore? Did he want to put the effort to rebuild that bridge even if he ended up failing?

 

God Lance sure did.

 

Thinking back to his talks with Keith when he thought he was RedLion and just the moments they had that Lance could never replace made him want to cry imagining them never happening. Like it or not him and Keith had something. It was something much bigger than the stupid fights they had or the petty anger. Keith had always been a big part of his life no matter what side of him it was and even if they still fought sometimes Lances wanted it. He wanted it all. He still liked Keith.

 

He fucking wanted to date Keith.

 

Now that Lance didn’t let the fighting block what was really important, he felt so stupid. He had been so childish and closed minded about such an easy problem that he was now afraid that he was too late. Had Keith given up on him? Did he still want to talk? Did Keith care?

 

There was only one way to find out. Launching out of bed Lance shoved his feet into his shoes and yelled to his mom that he was going to talk to Keith as he ran by. She yelled some kind of encouragement after him but he was already out the door.

 

Running across the street felt weird because the last time he had done it he had a fist up ready to give Keith a black eye. His feelings were the complete opposite to what they were in that moment and Lance was glad. This felt more like him. This positivity and hope and dare he say it romantic feelings was what he felt he was made up of. Past the worrying about who he was deep down Lance knew he was a lover not a fighter.

 

Reaching the door he banged on it a little too loud but he didn’t care about the pain in his knuckled or if anyone was bothered by it. It only took a few seconds for him to hear footsteps coming his way meaning it was effective and that’s all he cared about. When the door swung open an unamused Keith appeared on the other side. Lance could see the exact moment Keith realized it was him because his face went from surprise to confusion to anger.

 

“What are you doing here? Want to talk to one of my mom’s?” Despite his grumpy face Keith’s voice was neutral as if Lance was just a stranger.

 

“No, I am here to talk to you.” Lance was beginning to feel dread spread in his belly. Was he actually too late?

 

Both of Keith’s eyebrows raised higher then he had ever seen before and that was saying something. “Oh, so you are finally talking to me then?”

 

“Yes…” Lance scuffed his foot guiltily against the porch before looking up to make eye contact with Keith. “I just need to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for punching you and I’m sorry for ignoring you and I just don’t want to fight like this anymore. You, the you in front of me and the one I met online are too important for me to act like a child and lose what we had.”

 

Lance watched as Keith’s face got redder and redder till it was almost as red as a tomato. Lance realized this color on him was something he had never seen before. Was Keith embarrassed?

 

“Lance….I’m sorry too.” Keith paused to cough as if his throat was really dry. “For everything. From the way I acted when we first met to that shitty stuff I said to you when you tried to make sure I was okay. I didn’t mean any of it. The way my mom’s talked about you like you were perfect and I was nothing really hit a cord with me but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I hope you know how I really feel about you, both sides of you. I’ve never really hated you and I want to stay friends. I’ve been trying to talk to you about that for a week. I…don’t want to lose you either.” The whole time he was talking Keith would look at Lance then look away rapidly. Lance quickly realized that Keith was feeling uncomfortable. It was probably because he wasn’t used to this kind of talk with him.

 

Well…neither was Lance. Lance wasn’t sure what to say now. He had expected more to happen… This had gone so smoothly. Was it always this easy to apologize and find a middle ground? It almost felt like it was too easy “Okay. Wow. This is happening. So friends?” Lance said in awe after a few seconds of them both staring at each other and put his hand out. After a second Keith shook it.

 

“Yeah, friends.” He agreed with a firm nod. “No more senseless fighting. Let’s be more like MemeKing and RedLion.”

 

“I wholeheartedly agree.” Lance could feel a genuine smile growing on his face. Now that he had gotten past this scary step he was really looking forward to this new relationship. Lance, of course, wanted to be more than friends, but that was way in the future. Him and Keith had to take baby steps. He was glad that they had made the first one so smoothly.

 

“Um so…I was actually talking to my mom’s.” Keith jutted his thumb over his shoulder as if Lance would be able to see where he was pointing. “We have been trying to find an understanding about what I want with my future.”

 

Lance started, actually jumping in place, when he realized he was taking up precious time from something important. “Oh shit yeah. That’s more important than this. We can talk more later?”

 

Keith flashed him a bright smile that he had seen before but had never been directed to him. It was unreasonable how fast it set his heart going. “Yeah. We will talk later.”

 

“Bye then.” Lance waved stupidly. Keith just gave him a concerned smile before closing the door.

 

Lance walked back to his house in a daze and gave his mom a thumbs up when he passed her. He walked into his room and fell into his computer chair. “Wow, so that happened.” He muttered to himself before grabbing his phone and calling Hunk.

 

For the next two hours he told Hunk everything he had left out before. Hunk was happy for Lance and glad he was able to make the right decisions. Lance didn’t really feel that it was real. Looking back since that dinner everything felt like a dream. What chances were there that out of the 7 billion odd people there are in the world the person you meet online is your neighbor you grew up with? What are the chances that you end up developing feelings for that person? Lance didn’t want to say it but honestly this whole thing felt like fate. Like whatever powerful beings were out there planned for him and Keith to come together like this. Lance kind of wished they hadn’t made it so complicated but hey it was a great story and if he and Keith got married someday he would get to tell it over and over again.

 

Wait. Married? Lance jerked back in surprise. Has he really just thought about him and Keith getting married? Damn he was way ahead of himself. He needed to calm down. Why was that such a hard concept for him to get?

 

Maybe because when Lance felt he felt hard. And he had been feeling a lot lately. And through all that mess of emotions his brain had landed and fixated on romantic feelings and god he was sure running with it. It didn’t even matter that it was super unlikely at this point that Keith liked him back. Keith was a stubborn guy. Ketih was the one that started this whole enemies thing so he probably wouldn’t be able to woo the dude very quickly. And maybe he had a chance as MemeKing but that was probably way gone. He was starting from square one.

 

Which was friendship. Lance wanted to beat that into his head. Friendship friendship friendship! So what if Lance was desperate for affection, that didn’t mean that he was going to get it as soon as he realized he liked someone. Even if that’s what he really wanted.

 

God Lance needed a distraction from that train of thought. He pulled out his phone thinking he would play a mindless game but without his permission his fingers took him to skype and he found himself looking down at his chat with Keith.

 

What was he doing here? This was the exact opposite of getting his mind off of Keith!

 

Unless…maybe it was a sign. The universe was telling him he needed to talk to Keith right now. He knew exactly what he wanted to say.

 

**MemeKing: Hey Keith. How did things go with your moms? That is if you don’t mind me asking.**

**RedLion: Hey. Not bad actually. I only yelled once but I apologized quickly.**

**MemeKing: Haha that sounds like the Keith I know.**

**RedLion; Haha yeah.**

Lance stared down at his phone. It was only a few sentences but this already felt wrong. The atmosphere him and Keith had when they didn’t know it was each other was gone. It was awkward and tense and Lance hated it.

 

**MemeKing: Okay I’m addressing the elephant in the chat room**

**MemeKing: This is super awkward.**

**RedLion: Fuck I know, sorry.**

**RedLion: I just don’t know what to say?**

**RedLion: I made myself fight with you for so long to just switch like this feels weird.**

**MemeKing: No man I hear you. I’m still mind fucked. Like this situation is batshit crazy.**

**RedLion: I hear you there. If someone had told me that you were Memeking I would have laughed at them. But now that you are….I see it.**

**RedLion: You were both dorky, said silly stuff, didn’t think before you spoke, were always bothering me, and were charismatic amongst other stuff.**

**MemeKing: TBH I can’t tell if you were trying to be nice there or not.**

**RedLion: Eh I’m going to leave it up to you.**

**MemeKing: Sounds about right.**

**MemeKing: But hey let’s just not.**

**RedLion: Just not what?**

 

**MemeKing: Let's skip over all that award junk. Let’s just go back to being MemeKing and RedLion, best buddies.**

**RedLion: Lance if it was that easy no one would ever be awkward.**

**MemeKing: Damn you got me there.**

**MemeKing: Can we at least try?**

**RedLion: yeah, we can try.**

**MemeKing: Thanks Keith….**

**MemeKing: TIME FOR SOME MUSHY FEELINGS.**

**RedLion: Oh god save me.**

 

**MemeKing: I am god, you can’t run from me.**

**MemeKing: But seriously.**

**MemeKing: I struggled with this if you couldn’t tell. I obviously carried a grudge from when we were kids. I couldn’t understand why you hated me for no reason. I now know about the kid in that foster home but I didn’t for a long time. It fucked me up you know? But I really liked spending time with you online. Like I looked forward to it every day. When I found out that you were the same person I was crushed. I felt like my safety person was taken from me. Like don’t get me wrong I love Hunk but there was just something in the way we got along that made me feel good no matter what. I talked to a few people about it and honestly if I hadn’t I might have never talked to you again. They made me realize I didn’t have to lose you. I was no way an innocent bystander in what we were doing and if I could see that and put that in the past, then maybe we could move forward. And look at us, we are. At least we are trying, and I don’t think it’s going to be too hard for us. We were both really tired of our fighting. We are adults now and we can do this like adults do. So sorry this is really long but I just want to tell you thanks for giving me a second chance too. I know that you have to forgive me just like I had to forgive you. Thanks for not leaving me.**

 

Lance hit send and he felt like his heard was going to fly away. He had no idea of what Keith was going to say. He was scared that old Keith would show up and laugh at his feeling. Lance wanted to think he knew Keith better than that but it might be easier for him to revert to old ways.

 

When the message came minutes later Lance could finally breathe again.

 

**RedLion: God Lance I would never leave you. I’m not good at talking about my feelings but I guess now’s the time to do it? I’ve been alone most of my life. You know that I’ve only ever had Hunk as a friend. That’s why everyone I had online was really important to me. Funny that I never realized that some of you were the same important people. Talking to you online kind of grounded me. Made me not feel so alone. You used the words safety friend and I’m guessing that means someone you can always feel safe and comfortable around. If that’s right you were also my safety person too. Weirdly enough finding out you were the same person was a relief. I know you’re a good person Lance. I’ve watched you for a long time and been jealous of how outgoing and loved you are. I wanted to be a part of your world but I didn’t know how so I kept on messing with you and fighting because that’s the only way I knew how anymore. The two of you being one person was confusing….but it felt right. I’m glad that you are who you are and I’m happy that you want me to be in your life.**

 

Lance felt something wet on his face and he lifted his hand to realize it was water. Why was he crying? Was this really a moment to be crying? Why did it feel so good to know that Keith thought these things about him? That he honestly thought so highly of him? His chest was full of so many emotions and so much happiness and relief that lance didn’t know what to do himself.

 

That’s why he was surprised to find that he had pushed call and Keith’s name was on his screen. It rang once before Keith picked up.

 

“Lance?” Keith’s voice was confused but god it was his voice and Lance was really happy to hear it.

 

“Hey Keith.” He practically whispered, a wobbly smile on his face.

 

Everything was going to be okay Lance thought to himself. This is going to make up for everything. They were going to be okay.

 

They could only go forward from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I know I'm not that good of a writer. It's amazing that any amount of you like this story and keep up with it. It's really hard for me to share stuff like this cause I know I have so much room to grow but I want to write good things. This story is probably mediocre at best. It will never be a popular fanfic writer or have a well-read fanfic and that's okay. I know where I belong. I might be taking a longer break then I originally planned after this chapter just to find my love of writing again. It sounds dramatic I know but I can't write unless I am enjoying myself. If after reading this chapter anyone feels that this is good enough please just tell me to stop. I know this was supposed to be Klance but if no one really liked this story that much I don't want to waste my time or anyone else by reading a shitty story. 
> 
> (do you still see the notes from the first chapter below this?? what the heck is going on with that??)


	7. Game Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith work on making their new relationship less awkward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I'm finally back! Thank you to everyone who remained patient and let me work through some stuff. It's easy for me to get into a mood where I just hate everything and am confident that my writing sucks. I finally came out the other side and while this might not be great its what I was able to come up with. This was written over a long period time so I hope that it flows well and goes okay with the rest of the story.

Monday morning Lance didn’t know how to feel anymore. He was a mix of excitement and nerves and fear. His phone call with Keith had been really nice the night before but it for sure made his life more complicated.

 

Last night they had talked for hours on end and while sometimes it was a little stressful most of it was smooth sailing. At first it was a lot of talking about their past and their future. There was a lot of saying sorry and talking about things they had done to each other they regretted. They both knew they had been horrible to each other, they both knew there was no reasons to justify it, they both knew they had a lot of making up to do. The most important thing was that they were going to try. And honestly that’s all Lance needed to hear. He didn’t need Keith to grovel or plead because Lance was willing to give Keith a second chance. He was willing to give both of them a second chance.

 

 Yet, Lance still couldn’t believe this was really happening. He had imagined what life would be like if he and Keith were friends a thousand times, but they always were just chalked up to be impossible daydreams. Meaning it was something Lance honestly never thought the two of them would do. He figured they would do the same dance till they were old or when one of them moved far away. So this whole thing was giving Lance a feeling that was hard to describe. It was all just a ride of emotions and confusion and pain and Lance knew that maybe it probably wasn’t the right thing to do, but he wanted to put it all behind him. He didn’t want to focus on what he had done or what Keith had done. He could dwell on the past and be hurt but he already decided that wasn’t the kind of person he was. He was a lover, not a fighter, and god did he want to love Keith.

 

There he was again getting ahead of himself.

 

So the aftermath was still overwhelming and fresh, but he was going to do his best to make today a good and important day. Change took time of course and it would take the two of them to make it work but Lance was ready to do what it took.

 

Stepping out of his house that morning his heart was beating unreasonably fast. He instantly noticed Keith standing on the other side of the street like he did every morning. Lance had left the house early so he was actually quite surprised to see Keith over there. Had he been just as nervous as Lance and had the same idea to arrive early so the other had to make the first move? If so then Lance had been outsmarted, but for some reason Lance didn’t think that was Keith’s reasoning.

 

That was backed up by the fact that as soon as Keith noticed him too he froze, but quickly thawed and switched into a relaxed posture. From a distance Lance could still see the tiniest of warm smiles crack onto his face and he lifted his hand in a small wave. Keith had made the first move and it made things so much easier for Lance.

 

Using his long legs, Lance walked quickly across the road, his eyes never leaving Keith’s face so he didn’t miss a moment of his rare smile.

 

“Hey.” He breathed when he was close enough to be heard.

 

“Good morning.” Keith said in quick reply as Lance turned to stand right next to Keith so they were both facing out to the road.

 

“Yeah, good morning.” Lance repeated and then it was quiet.

 

This was one thing Lance feared. They didn’t really know how to act towards each other face to face. He knew he should have come up with topics beforehand like ask what his favorite animal was or something but then Lance had panicked cause what if he asked something that Keith had already told him online and he got mad at him? Like Lance vaguely felt like Keith had told him he liked hippos but it seemed like a weird choice so was Lance just making that up? He didn’t want to find out when things were still kind of fragile.

 

“Uh.” Lance finally started awkwardly, his foot tapping to try and relieve some of his nervous energy. “Kind of cold today, isn’t it.”

 

“Yeah, thank god for jackets.” Keith said quickly like he was tripping over his words before he could get them out of his mouth

 

“Yeah, they are nice.” Lance wanted to slap himself in the face. What an exquisite response. Lance should become a poet.

 

“Yeah.” Keith echoed and they fell into another silence.

 

Lance tried to think of anything else to say but the more he thought the more he overthought any idea he got and in the end he had overworked himself. Luckily before he could get too frustrated the bus appeared on the road and they both shifted as if warming up to move once again.

 

However, Lance had failed to think of his next dilemma. He climbed onto the bus after Keith and watched him sit in an empty seat and scoot all the way over to the wall. Was Lance supposed to sit with him? Was he supposed to give him space and take things slow? Keith wasn’t looking at him to give him any hints as to what he wanted so Lance’s steps faltered on the weird rubber walkway.

 

Luckily a freshman girl waved to Lance and urged him to sit next to her to talk. Lance assumed it would be about her boyfriend Lance because she always liked to brag about him. Lance shot Keith a look and noticed he wasn’t looking at him at all so he took the girl up on her offer.

 

The whole bus ride he felt like he could feel Keith watching him as he chatted with the girl and a few surrounding people. Yet, every time he turned to look Keith was staring out the window. Either he was really good at knowing when Lance was about to look at him or Lance was just imagining what he hoped was happening. The truth was he kind of hoped Keith had wanted him to sit with him and was now jealous.

 

He didn’t even know if Keith was even the type to get jealous over something like that.

 

Once they were at the school and filing one by one off the bus lance noticed that Keith walking slower than usual. Usually he zoomed off to wherever he was going but today people were passing him as he trudged along. Lance was pretty sure it was so he could catch up with him but Lance wasn’t one hundred percent sure. He caught up with him anyways so they were walking together. He noticed Keith glance at him from the corner of his eye before resuming looking at the floor.

 

“Where do you usually go in the morning?” Lance asked, confident it wasn’t information he already knew and also really curious about the answer. He had never given much thought to what Keith did in the morning before.

 

“I usually just go to my classroom and sit in my seat till class starts.” Keith shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal but just in doing that Lance was pretty sure Keith knew how sad that sounded

 

“Wel, shit dude. You are coming with me then.” Lance hooked his arm playfully around Keith’s neck and started to maneuver them both towards where Hunk was waiting for him.

 

“W-why?” the stutter was the only thing that gave away how nervous Keith was. He was somehow able to keep his voice a normal steady tone but it made Lance feel better knowing he wasn’t the only one nervous about being in new territory.

 

“Cause we are friends now and friends hang out in the mornings.” Lance informed him like it was the most logical thing in the world, which honestly it kind of was.

 

“Oh. Okay” Keith said and pushed away from Lance gently so he could walk normally. Lance let him go without much fuss, confident that he wasn’t going to try and run away

 

Lance hadn’t thought much about it but when they walked into the building Lance realized that Hunks reaction to seeing the two of them together might be the best part of the morning. Lance loved the way that he could see the exact moment Hunk noticed them because his eyes grew wide in surprise and he blinked rapidly a few times as if to make sure he was seeing things right.

 

“Good morning my dude!” Lance crowed when he got close to the guy.

 

“Good morning buddy” Hunk said with a smile then he looked over as if he still couldn’t believe Keith was there. “…and Keith! Good to see you.” he reached out and patted Keith in a way Lance was sure was meant to reassure Keith that he was happy to see him

 

“Good to see you too. Beats the alternative.” Keith mumbled then blushed when he realized how revealing that had been. Both Hunk and Lance felt a little wave of guilt going through them at the reminder that Keith was kind of a lonely guy and if Lance and Keith hadn’t been doing their dumb feud they could have been doing this a long time ago.

 

Trying to not think about it, all three of them tried to act like things were normal. Hunk kept looking between the two of them probably trying to figure out if something had happened that Lance hadn’t told him about. Thankfully after ten minutes of awkward chatting the first bell rang and the strained conversation ended. They went to their respective classes after saying their goodbyes and Lance was left reeling.

 

This whole thing they were doing was so different. It wasn’t bad, but it clearly wasn’t going that great yet. Lance wanted more than anything to talk with Keith like they did online but this morning was already a clear sign that wasn’t going to happen and that they had a few things to work through first. But how the hell was he going to do that?

 

After all his morning classes Lance headed to lunch already knowing who he was going to see when he got there. Keith and Hunk were there seated with their lunches and talking about something Lance was too far away to hear. Once he had stood in line and got his own food he joined the two. Lance was instantly disappointed to hear it was about something boring from their class together. He sat down quietly after they exchanged hellos and started eating. He wanted to join in but he didn’t know what to say that wasn’t awkward or completely strange. Very uncharacteristically he listened to the conversation and it was just so glaringly obvious nothing was changing. He was so eager to have something be different. To have some kind of sign that everything was going to work out. That it wasn’t going to be this way forever.

 

Lance decided if it wasn’t going to happen on its own he was going to take actions into his own hand. No matter how stupid the topic was Lance squeezed and pushed till he was the center of the conversation. He tried to be his usually loud and talkative self and it was easy to put that mask on like always, covering all the insecurities running through his veins.

 

However, now with them all talking and lance putting on a show, it was easier to make mistakes. Twice Lance almost slipped up and said something nasty out of habit. Things that didn’t even bare repeating because they were so stupid and a real eye-opener to what the last years had been like for everyone else looking on. Each time the words had started to slip out Hunk shot him a look and Keith looked at him almost…vulnerable. Like he was waiting for the current situation to snap too.

 

Eventually, Hunk seemed tired of waiting for someone to tell him what was going on.

 

“Okay, not that this upsets me, but last I checked you guys wanted to kill each other and now you show up at school trying to get along? What happened?”

 

“Uh.” Keith’s eyes dragged over to Lance obviously waiting for him to be the one to tell Hunk.

 

“We made up.” Lance said it casually with a shrug like it wasn’t the biggest thing he had done all year.

 

“Okay. Wow. I’m really happy for you guys.” Hunk’s big smile reflected that statement before it dimmed just a little. “But, like, are you guys doing okay?

 

“Okay?” Both of them echoed Hunk with a hint of confusion on their tongues.

 

“Yeah like… making up is only half of it.” He looked between them as if he was trying to see if they were trying to get what he was saying. When they didn’t he elaborated. “I’ve just noticed that you guys are really awkward around each other.”

 

“Wow, you didn’t have to point it out. Asshole move” Lance said with a huff but Keith dropped his head to his chest.

 

“I don’t know what I should be doing.” Keith’s voice came out low and a little sad. “I obviously don’t have a lot of friends. This is really hard for me.”

 

His honestly shocked both of them into momentary silence.

 

“Uh. Well, that’s okay man.” He patted Keith on the back but he didn’t raise his head. “You know what. I have an idea. I think you guys just need to break out of this weird funk. You two should have a game day!”

 

“A what?” Lance said with eyes narrowed in confusion.

 

“A game day you know? We have them all the time. I come over and we just play games and eat snacks. You and Keith should do that.” The more Hunk talked the more excited about his own idea he seemed. He was practically bouncing in his seat.

 

“I’m not saying that’s a bad idea, but why a game day?” Lance tried getting Keith to look into his eyes to see his reaction to the idea but Keith was staring down at the table seemingly in thought.

 

“Well obviously that’s what you two are used to.” Hunk reached out and touched Keith’s shoulder and Lances arm in some kind of reassuring way. “Online you play games together all the time. I feel like if you take the time to do it in person then maybe this weirdness will go away and you will get more used to getting along face to face.”

 

“That.” Keith’s finally looked up to meet Lance’s eyes. His face was open and honest and it made Lance's heart skip a beat. “That could work?”

 

“I…I don’t see why not.” He flashed the smallest smile back at Keith which he hoped was reassuring but it just made him look down again. “Let’s do it.”

 

From there the two of them started making plans with Hunks help. It turned out they were both free that night so they made plans to go to Lances after school. Lance was panicking internally because it felt too soon but at the same time it was probably better to get it out of the way.

 

Yet, when they parted ways lance was starting to panic. He didn’t really know how to think about the whole thing. He had already made the plans so he couldn’t back out but he was kind of scared. On one hand he knew he liked Keith. He had already gone down that road when he was RedLion and him actually being Keith didn’t change anything. However, just because he knew who he was now didn’t mean it was going to be magically easy. It was like two sides of him were battling against themselves, excitement and nervousness. Hopefully it wasn’t going to be bad and things would go just like Hunk had said.

 

For the rest of the day Lance kept thinking about what he needed to do. He made a mental list and kept going over it again and again. It kept his nerves kind of at bay but he was missing class completely. He just had to be himself and things would go okay. Keith and him would be okay.

 

At the end of the day, despite the nerves twisting in his stomach, Lance got on the bus like they had planned and found Keith sitting in a seat by himself. He instantly plopped down next to him with a greeting then silence fell over them.

 

Lance was sure after a little that things would be okay but the entire bus ride home was awkward. Any conversation that started up only lasted for a few seconds before they fall into awkward silence again. Lance can’t seem to think of a good topic that they could really talk about and Keith didn’t seem to be trying. It made the nerves sink into a sour feeling. When it was finally their stop Lance thought that it would have been a relief if Keith wasn’t coming home with him. Lance now felt like cursing Hunk for suggesting this horrible situation.

 

“Um, I’m going to go home and drop my stuff off and I’ll be right over. Okay?” Keith says once the bus was driving off.

 

“Oh. Uh. Okay. See you in a few then?” Lance's voice was a higher pitch then he was proud of showing just how out of his element he was in this situation.

 

“Yeah…” the look in Keith’s eyes makes Lance wonder if Keith would even come back but he didn’t say anything and watched him cross the street before turning around and heading into his house himself.

 

At first Lance was just going to sit and wait but his nerves are way too high. He starts pacing for a few seconds before he realizes he just needed to do something to keep his mind off it. He went into the kitchen and got out some snacks, pouring them into bowls and hoping to god that Keith liked them. He pulled out a few soda, opening one for himself and taking a few gulps as if that would calm him down, and took the rest to the table in the living room for Keith to choose from.

 

Keith still hadn’t shown up and it was not helping. Maybe he really had chickened out? However, instead of giving up Lance moved to the living room and started setting up the TV. He didn’t know what game they were playing but he ended up pulling out all his multiplayer games and setting them out so Keith could choose when he showed up. If he showed up.

 

After he was done things were really starting to feel bad. How long did it take to drop off your backpack? Lance hoped maybe he was taking a really long poop. Or that one of his moms was home and talking his ear off. Not that he changed his mind. Not that…he didn’t want to be friends with Lance. Not that…he hated him.

 

A knock on the door had Lance yanked from his spiraling thoughts and rushing towards the door. Without meaning to he ripped it open and Keith was on the other side looking surprised at how aggressive the act was.

 

“Hey.” Lance breathed almost disbelieving that he had actually come.

 

“Hey” Keith responded just as softly, mostly out of shock.

 

Lances mind shook itself asking him what he was doing so he fell into autopilot. “Jeeze what took you so long?”

 

Keith’s eyebrows scrunch together and Lance realized once again he had fallen back into old patterns. “Uh. Sorry. I was just worried you wouldn’t come.”

 

Keith’s face softened again. “Uh sorry…I… was nervous.”

 

Lance wasn’t sure what to do with that information. He was nervous? Lance could imagine Keith standing with his hand on the doorknob staring at his feet as he tried to get the courage to come over to Lance’s house. Keith had been over with his family a few times but never like this and it was actually kind of relaxing to know Keith was as nervous for this as he was.

 

“Oh. Okay. Come in?” Lance moved out of the way to let Keith in and after a second of hesitation Keith moved in. “My brother is here but he won’t bother us. He never comes out unless mom makes him.” Lance closed the door and walked into the house with Keith trailing behind him. They walked quickly into the living room where everything was set up.

 

“Drink, snacks, games.” Lance pointed to each pile respectively and watched as Keith’s eyes roamed over all of it.

 

“Thanks.” is all he said but he doesn’t move to grab anything. Lance suddenly felt like he fucked up. He didn’t like any of it. He was about to fall into panic mode when Keith looked over at him nervously.

 

“Can I have a cup? And maybe a napkin?” he said each word hesitantly as if he didn’t know if he actually wanted to ask.

 

“Oh crap yeah sorry!” Lance jumped into motion and was back two seconds later with what Keith had asked for.

 

Once having what he needed he moved and poured a can of orange soda into the cup and takes a sip. “Thanks” he mumbled again

 

There were a few more awkward seconds of them standing there avoiding looking at each other before Lance motioned to the pile of games.” What do you want to play?”

 

“Oh.” Keith looked over at the games like he had forgotten what he was doing there. “Let me look at what you have.”

 

Lance watched Keith put down his drink and move over to the games. He moved so hesitatingly, so obviously out of his comfort zone. It was hard to believe this was the same guy he had been fighting with for years. The brash Keith was missing replaced by someone so much more timid. He never thought he would use that word to describe Keith. He usually seemed so sure of himself and he guessed that just further proved that Lance had never really known Keith.

 

“What about this?” Lance looked over to see Keith holding Splatoon.

 

It wasn’t one he had expected Keith to pick. “Splatoon?”

 

“Yeah.” Keith shrinks into himself a little. “I’ve never played it.”

 

“Oh right you don’t have a Wii U do you?” Keith shook his head so Lance just took the game from his hand and walked over to his Wii. He pushed the power button then slipped the game in so the TV lit up with the Wii home screen. After that was done Lance pulled out his gamepad to select the game and sat on the couch. Keith followed him and sat right next to him. Once it started playing the music letting lance know the disk had been read successfully, he handed Keith the actual Wii remote but noticed that Keith seemed to be intrigued by the little screen on his pad showing the game.

 

“Cool.” he breathed almost like he didn’t mean to say it out loud. He watched the little screen the entire time Lance was setting up a game and didn’t stop while he is explaining the rules of the game to him.

 

Finally when they started Keith focused on the TV and Lance realized that he had been kind of holding his breath the whole time Keith had been sitting so close to him.

 

At first Lance had let Keith figure out the controls of the game. Keith had picked a gun while Lance had picked the paint roller and Lance was actually pretty excited to kick his ass. Once Keith felt confident he could play they started a new round and it was an all our war. Neither of them talked except for groans of frustration as the other got them or they started losing area. Lance was kicking ass mostly because of the paint roller being able to cover a lot of area quickly and of course the fact that Lance played with Hunk and Pidge and Pidge was ruthless. He admitted that he had picked up a few tricks from her.

 

Lance won and Keith threw his hands up in frustration, the Keith he was used to peeking out.

 

“Again!” he demanded and Lance couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“Okay. I’ll probably kick your ass again though.” Lance said casually with a smug grin on his face.

 

Keith's face scrunched up, glaring in the face of a challenge. “Yeah, sure. We will see.”

 

This time Keith also picked the pain roller and the playing ground became pretty even. Both of them were running around wild trying to cover as much ground as possible. Lance still won which made Keith demand another round.

 

This time they got the map where the goal was to pop balloons and Keith seemed eager to do well. The game began and they started running around like crazy once more. This time Keith was in the lead until Lance started using his tricks to get to the balloons before Keith could even get to the spawning spot. At one point Lance heard Keith growl in frustration

 

“You’re too good at this!” Keith slammed his remote down once Lance was declared victor again.

 

“I’m just a god and better at video games than you! Admit it!” Lance felt giddy at beating Keith and pushed his nose into the air like some snob.

 

“No!” Keith’s arms crossed over his chest. “It’s just that you have played this and I haven’t!”

 

“Fine. Pick a game you know and I’ll still kick your ass.” Lance motioned to the stack of games the smug smile growing smugger if even possible.

 

Obviously feeling more comfortable Keith jumped up from the couch and stormed over to the pile of games. After a few seconds he pulled out the first Borderlands.

 

“Seriously?” Lance said tilting his head to the side. “That one isn’t competitive. Plus it’s not even the best one.”

 

“Hey shut your mouth I love the first one.” Keith pointed at him with an accusing finger. “And anything is competitive if you make it.”

 

Without asking for permission Keith turned on the Xbox and slipped the game in. With a sigh Lance switched the source on the TV in defeat and the Xbox home screen came up.

 

“Bring the controllers over.” Lance pointed to the cabinet that had all his remotes and games in it and Keith walked over grabbing two before bringing them over to the couch.

 

Starting the game up they started a new save file taking a few seconds to pick characters, Lance obviously picking the girl because she’s bad ass and making her colors all blue, before starting off. At first it was a race for the other person to get to the destination first, to shoot the most people, and to get all the money and ammo before the other person did. But as they played the atmosphere seemed to switch. They were so focused on the game that the conversation went from arguing to teasing and they went from working against each other to working together. Lance didn’t even realize how much he was laughing and having fun. Sometimes he would bump into Keith and make a joke and instead of rolling his eyes Keith would actually laugh. It felt…really nice.

 

This was what Hunk had meant. He could feel them slipping into their normal conversations and actions from when they were MemeKing and RedLion. They were tearing down their walls and it was easy to find their rhythm once again.

 

However there was a problem with getting along so well with Keith. Lance fucking liked Keith. It was in the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled and how when he laughed he threw his head back just a little. It was in the way Keith would tease Lance when he missed or when Lance playfully pushed into him he pushed back just as hard. It was the fact that RedLion was Keith and Keith was RedLion and Lance knew RedLion. He had liked Redlion for a while and this crush wasn’t going away. Seeing his crush and getting past that RedLion was Keith only made it stronger. It helped that Keith was an attractive guy too. Lance had always known he was.

 

Yet, he knew he had to push the feelings down. This wasn’t the time for Lance to push his feelings onto Keith. Like fuck, they had only just started getting into a good place with each other. Lance could ruin it in a flash. If Keith didn’t like him back and he tried to do something then it was all down the toilet. Lance knew his friendship was more important than his crush but that didn’t make it any easier.

 

He wanted to flirt. He wanted to push their sides together to feel Keith’s skin and heat and wanted Keith to lean his head on Lance's shoulder and just feel content. He wanted so much more because that’s who he was. He was an intimate person with all his friends and family and it was so hard not to push those feelings and wants on Keith.

 

He needed to be strong.

 

Eventually his parents came home and even though Lance had already told them about Keith coming over they were shocked to see them on the couch getting along. They tried to hide it but it was really obvious. They had promised him they would stay out of the living room but he could tell it was hard since they kept popping it to offer drinks and snacks and offered for Keith to stay for dinner. When they had asked Keith had looked at Lance for longer than felt necessary before he agreed and called one of his moms to tell them he would be home late. Lance could hear how ecstatic she was from where he sat. Lance figured it wasn’t often Keith called to tell them he was staying at a friend’s house for dinner.

 

Lance wondered if this was the first time he had ever done that.

 

They switched to Mario cart and played yelling and trying to mess each other up till it was time for dinner. Lance was above the moon about how well this was going. His fears and guilt were just melting away. It really felt like a new start. This felt like something good that was going to last.

 

At dinner Keith quieted down a little. He still talked when Lance’s parents addressed him and once when his brother came out of his room and greeted him not even surprised to see him.

 

For some reason throughout dinner Lance kept catching Keith looking at him. Lance would have thought nothing about it besides the fact his face looked fond. Like Lance was doing something to make him look happy when in fact he wasn’t doing anything. Lance instantly assumed he was reading into it. Lance probably liked Keith so much that he was projecting and while Lance wasn’t surprised that this is where his mind was going it still was a little painful. Of course he wanted Keith to like him. He just knew that he didn’t.

 

That put a little bit of a damper on his mood that he instantly pushed out of the way.

 

With dinner over they helped clean the kitchen before lance offered for them to go to his room since they had hogged the TV all afternoon and his dad needed his news time. Lance thought Keith would tell him he needed to go home but he didn’t. Lance wondered if Keith didn’t want this night to end either.

 

Heading into his room Lance instantly started showing him everything in his room from poster to knickknacks to his books. Keith just sat on Lance’s bed silently and made comments at appropriate times. Lance would have stopped but Keith seemed genuinely interested in what he was showing him.

 

Eventually Lance exhausted all the things he had and plopped on the bed next to Keith.

           

“Hey! I have an idea.” Lance said enthusiastically after a few seconds.

 

“Is it a good one?” Keith said, his voice dripping with uncertainty.

 

“Yeah totally!” Lance put on an offended face. “When have I ever had a bad idea?”

 

“I can think of a few things.” Keith tried to say it seriously but a little smile at the end ruined it.

 

Lance rolled his eyes and bumped Keith’s shoulder, something he seemed to be doing a lot. “Okay shut up till you hear it.”

 

“Fine.” Keith said and mimicked lances eye roll and shoulder bump.

 

Lance bounced up and down excitedly as he got ready to tell Keith. “So I was thinking it would be fun if we sent a photo of us together to the group chat. It would be a fun lead in to telling them what happened!”

 

Keith instantly froze up which sucked Lance's excitement right out of him. “Uh. I don’t know about that one.”

 

The wheels in Lance's head had to spin for a little before he realized that this had to do with Keith’s fears. “Come on Keith it won’t be that bad. I know you’re afraid that they won’t accept you. But if your worse enemy can accept you anyone can. Don’t you think?”

 

Keith linked up at Lance for a few seconds before he muttered. “Was that supposed to be an encouraging?”

 

“Yes!” Lance screeched and pushed Keith down so he fell onto his back on the bed laughing. However quickly his laughter died and he stared up at the ceiling.

 

“I know realistically that they won’t hate me because of the way I look or anything dumb like that. They are all better people than that. And you and Hunk didn’t care even when I turned out to be that asshole you knew. I just am worried that they will take one look at my face and just think I’m gross or lame or something I don’t know.”

 

“Well you’re the opposite of ugly so really that’s not going to happen.” A second to late Lance realized what he said. He quickly looked at Keith to see if he noticed and by the blush on his face Lance realized he wasn’t getting away with that one.

 

“T-thanks.” He stuttered and despite Lance’s embarrassment he was kind of surprised that Keith hadn’t called him dumb or something for accidentally calling him beautiful. Was that…a good sign?

 

Lance pushed it out of his head. He really needed to stop obsessing over this whole crush thing. He had more important things to be thinking about right now.

 

“Well maybe if you do it with me…it won’t be so bad?” Lance struggles for a way to try and encourage Keith. “No one will have to say anything about how you look they will be more interested in why we are together. This might be the perfect way to do it you know? Kind of a baby step to being more open with them?”

 

Keith finally sat up but looked at his hand instead of at Lance. “Maybe. I mean just thinking I’m ugly isn’t it. It’s more like…they will see who I really am. And I’m not the greatest person.

 

“Keith!” Lance grabbed Keith’s shoulders surprising him into looking up at him. “Don’t say that about yourself! I may have only found out it was you but from talking online, I never thought you were a bad person. The opposite really. I always wanted to talk to you and play with you and I’m sure our friends feel the same. No one will hate you Keith. Telling us more about you isn’t going to make anyone abandon you. We are here to stay no matter what.”

 

Keith’s beautiful purple-gray eyes were searching Lances face as if to look for some hint that Lance was pulling his leg. He started to bite his lip before a long sigh left his throat. “Okay. I… I want to do it. I want to tell them who I am. I think…I’m ready if you are with me”

 

“Amazing!” Lance gave Keith the warmest smile He could muster. “I know it’s hard to face a situation where you might be rejected but you are amazing and brave and everyone will love you no matter what.” Lance cheered and pulled Keith into a hug. Keith was stiff for a second before he hugged Lance back.

 

“It’s thanks to you.” Keith muttered into his ear. “I would not be able to do this without you. So really thanks.”

 

“It’s no big deal Keith. I’m always going to be here for you.” Pulling away he said that while looking into Keith’s eyes so he got that he was serious. He wanted Keith to understand that he had Lance on his side now no matter what. Keith stared back at him almost like Lance was hanging the moon and stars for him. It was making his chest swell up with more feelings he didn’t need to be feeling. Lance cleared his throat and pulled his phone out breaking the moment. “Now here get close to me.” Moving himself so he was sitting pressed up against Keith’s side, Lance tried to ignore the feeling and instead lifted the phone in the air. “Here put your face close to mine.”

 

Keith looked at him in confusion a second before he did what Lance asked. He moved close enough that Lance could feel the presence of Keith’s face next to his without actually feeling it.

 

“Okay smile!” Lance flashed the camera his best smile while Keith looked up at it with the most forced smile he had ever seen. “Keith smile like you mean it!”

 

“I am!” Keith said through clenched teeth.

 

“You look in pain.” Lance lowered the phone to give Keith an annoyed look.

 

“I’m nervous I can’t help it!” Keith yelled in defense looking poutier by the second.

 

That made Lance pause. Was this possibly Keith’s first selfie? It made Lance's heart soften like butter. “Okay then don’t look at the phone. Think about something that makes you happy and just smile!”

 

Keith thinks for a minute before he grunted an agreement. After a few seconds he put his face back next to lances a small smile perked up on his face and Lance assumes that was the best he was going to get. He pressed the button a million time then brought his arm down.

 

“Let’s see what we got.” He said more to himself then Keith.

 

He started scrolling through the photos and noticed that at first Keith has the small smile but after a few seconds he had moved to look over at Lance just a little. Then his smile had grown softer and bigger and that fond look was back.

 

Lances breath caught in his throat seeing that. Right in front of him was proof that Lance wasn’t imagining the looks Keith had been giving him since dinner. It was hard for Lance to rip his eyes away from the picture to look at Keith who was nervously looking down at the photos.

 

“Anything good?” Keith asked realizing that Lance had stopped scrolling. Lance couldn’t respond though he was stuck staring. “Lance?” Keith looked up just a little giving lance a confused look.

 

Lance couldn’t hold it back anymore. Without any warning or a chance to overthink it Lance dropped his phone and brought his hands up to grab Keith’s face seconds before he smashed his lips onto Keith’s.

 

It was everything he had imagined. Keith’s lips were warm and soft and the butterflies in his stomach were going crazy. Lance was sure that Keith was going to pull back but he didn’t. After a second of shock he could feel him press into Lance's lips too and Lance felt his whole body melt. The kiss only lasted a short amount of time but it felt like forever. Lance pulled back to look at Keith’s face and his eyes were still closed. After a second they fluttered open and Keith was looking at Lance with a dopey expression. A small smile lifted up the corners of his lips before suddenly his eyes flew wide open.

 

Scrambling back from Lance Keith jumped off the bed. “Uh. Uh. Uh” His eyes flashed around looking for an escape. “I have to go home now.”

 

Keith was sent into a whirlwind of emotions ending with mostly confusion and panic. He thought Keith had been into it but was he wrong? Had he fucked everything up? Everything was moving too fast to give him a moment to think. “Wait Keith! Don’t go!” Lance stood up to stop Keith but he was already running out the door leaving Lance alone for his heart to break in two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to share your thoughts on this chapter! However, I'm not looking for constructive criticism. I write this for fun and I'm sorry if you disagree with my writing or how I chose to take this story. Maybe that's dumb of me to ask that but I'm not looking to improve my writing through this story but to have fun and share a love for this pairing with other people.


	8. You're Not Sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy its been exactly an entire month since I updated. That's mostly cause school was hell but hey its winter break and I wrote the rest of this in one day. I feel like I need to finish this story before the year is up. Doesn't mean I have a lot of motivation to write it. I feel like this isn't my best work and that it's rushed but I hope it doesn't ruin the story. Sorry that this is going down hill :(
> 
> Also thank you for over 1000 hits! its more then i could ever have hoped for!

Lance knew he fucked up. Honestly, the whole world probably knew he fucked up. That’s just how much he had fucked up that people could probably just feel it.

 

Lance was still frozen in place, left standing in his room looking at where Keith had disappeared through the door and possibly out of his life for good. At first his mind was in total shock trying to process exactly what happened but as the seconds ticked by and the nasty feeling sloshing around in his gut got stronger and stronger Lance knew that he was really screwed.

 

 Why couldn’t he control his stupid emotions? Why couldn’t he just let their relationship take its natural course instead of rushing ahead? Sure Lance could have someday confessed to Keith but kissing him the very first day they were getting along? Yeah, that was a mix of being desperate and stupid. Now Keith was gone and probably mad. All the progress they had been making whipped clean. It took only one day to make Keith hate him again.

 

A thought hit him like a train: Maybe that’s the way it always was supposed to be.

 

It didn’t matter how well they got along hidden behind usernames or how long Lance had liked Keith as RedLion, the real Keith and Lance were always going to somehow fuck it up again and again till there was no way to turn it back around.

 

The truth of the thought was overwhelming and Lance barely registered that he was extremely close to crying.

 

Slinking back over to his bed he accidentally kicked his phone making it slide a few inches. With a deep sigh he leaned over to grab it and sitting on the screen was the same photo. Keith was still looking at him with those eyes and god Lance wanted to go back to that moment. If he had a time machine he would go back and slap himself from a few minutes ago and he would be so shocked to see himself that he would forget the dire urge to kiss Keith’s beautiful face.

 

Too bad that technology didn’t exist.

 

Lance gave himself a few more seconds to look at the photo before locking the screen. If things had really gone as downhill as he knew it had, then he would delete it later. It would have to hurt less at some point, right?

 

Now sliding under his covers without even changing out of his pants, Lance curled into a ball.

 

Rejection hurt. Hurt really bad. It was taking all his strength to not cry. He wanted to know why Keith had looked at him like that if he hadn’t liked him too. He wanted to know what all those signs he thought he saw really were. He wanted to understand how he went so horribly wrong but he was too busy beating himself over the head. Stupid stupid stupid. Of course Keith wouldn’t like you. Why would anyone like you? You’re not good. You are boring and stupid and there isn’t a single good thing about you. That’s why you pulled this stupid move in the first place. It would be better off if you just laid there forever.

 

Lance felt that familiar feeling wash over him but he did nothing to stop it. Instead he embraced it as his mind went blank and he stared at his wall till he finally fell asleep.

 

The next day Lance woke up feeling a little better but still crappy. Despite all the dark thoughts he was trying to avoid he was still unsure of what he was supposed to do at school. It was worse than when they hated each other because now Lance just never wanted to see him. He wanted to never have to face the way Keith made him feel now. Yet that wasn’t really a choice. During the day he still ran into Keith and had a class with him. When he walked into class he wondered if he was he supposed to go up and say something to him. That was the last thing Lance wanted to do. Lance seriously never wanted to see Keith ever again so he did his best to sit down without being noticed by Keith. Keith never even looked up to see if he was in class so Lance assumed that not wanting to see each other was a mutual thing.  


Despite knowing that this was likely how Keith felt, it still hurt to see it actually happen. Lance knew he was a huge fuck up so it honestly shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did that he ruined his and Keith’s entire relationship in one minute. He couldn’t blame Keith for hating him.

 

The entire day Hunk was concerned, that was a given. Lance was sure he looked like shit and no matter how many times Hunk asked Lance didn’t think he could talk about what happened without crying. All he could do was leave Hunk with an unsatisfactory ‘I’ll tell you later’. Lance was sure by the way Keith was avoiding Hunk too that Hunk wasn’t getting Keith to tell him anything. Lance felt some relief from that. Right now he didn’t want to know how revolted he had felt when he had kissed him or how mad he was at Lance for pulling that idiotic stunt.

 

When it was finally the end of the day Lance was so tired. He was tired of pretending that nothing was wrong and so tired of going through the motions of the day trying to avoid Keith.  When he pulled himself into the bus and found a seat it took him a second to realize no one was trying to talk to him like normal. He looked around as secretive as he could but he quickly realized that it was impossible not to be noticed because everyone was looking at him with concerned eyes. Instead of feeling happy as he might have once by all the attention, he felt more like even more of his energy was being sucked out of him. Pulling back into himself he thumped his head against the window and closed his eyes, praying that his stop would arrive quickly.

 

When the buss finally did pull up in front of his house Lance moved quickly. Just like that morning speed was needed to avoid seeing or running into Keith. That morning Lance had only run out of the house when the bus doors had opened and Keith was already getting on. Now he booked it into his house before Keith could even get out of his seat.

 

No one was home today and Lance was glad for it. He didn’t want another talk with his mom. He didn’t want to explain what happened to her and end up crying or something equally as pathetic feeling. He just wanted to be alone.

 

Lance went into his room and locked his door behind him. Lance didn’t lock his door often so he knew his mom would know something was wrong when she found it shut, but he also knew that she would understand he needed to be alone. His mom was good that way.

 

So now secure that he would get to be by himself he crawled back into bed and pulled his covers up to his chin. At first he stared up at the ceiling, honestly debating just taking a nap so he didn’t have to deal with life, but he knew that meant he would be up all night. With a sigh, Lance picked up his phone and lowered the brightness to match his dark room. He scrolled through his Tumblr app at first, only getting more depressed when none of his favorite memes made him laugh. He ended up watching vine compilations, most of the videos he had already seen and were already stale, but it was better than nothing. After a few hours of this, his video was interrupted by a Skype notification popping up at the top of his screen.

 

 **TheChampion: Hey Lance, is everything okay? I haven’t heard from you in a bit and I can’t get RedLion to respond to me at all**.

 

Lance looked at the message dully. He didn’t want to deal with this. Shiro was a good friend and on any other day he would give him anything he wanted but not right now.

 

**MemeKing: Idk**

 

He sent the response, knowing full well it was a lie, but figuring that for now it would have to do. He set his phone back down knowing Shiro would message him back but figuring it would be something like okay. Instead it buzzed three times making Lance pick his phone back up with a groan.

 

**TheChampion: Lance? Somethings wrong isn’t it?**

 

**TheChampion: You never send one word texts like that. Not unless something is wrong.**

**TheChampion: Something happened between you a** nd RedLion.

 

It wasn’t even a question and Lance cursed Shiro for his dad like senses.

 

**MemeKing: Nothings wrong, don’t worry about it.**

 

Instead of a text his phone started ringing in his hand. Lance stared at it, the picture Shiro had sent him set to his contact number after him and Shiro had switched actual phone numbers appearing beautifully on the screen.

 

At first Lance just let it ring until the call ended. He figured Shiro would get the hint but honestly he should have known Shiro better than that. His phone started ringing a second time and when he let that one go a third time. It was the fourth time that Lance finally picked up.

 

“Lance?” Shiro asked before he could even say hello.

 

“Yeah?” Lance asked, his usual sass missing.

 

“What happened?” His voice was soothing and concerned and it chipped away at the emotions Lance was trying to freeze deep inside himself.

 

“Everything is fine Shiro.” Lance tried to talk normally but his voice wobbled as he spoke, his throat starting to clog with sorrow.

 

“Lance, you don’t have to lie. I’m here for you.” Was Shiro doing that with his voice on purpose? The way he was talking made Lance feel safe and like he should spill everything.

 

Lance could feel his lip wobble as he tried to think of what to say. He was an emotional person, that was no secret, so honestly it wasn’t a surprise that Shiro could bring him so close to tears so quickly. Still he tried again.

 

“I’m not lying. I’m one hundro percento greato.” His voice was thick with the promise of tears but he pushed past it hard trying to not let them give him away.

 

“Lance. Whatever this is…you don’t have to do it alone.” Shiro saying that was the last straw. With that tears burst from Lance in a way that could almost be described as violent. “Lance?” Shiro sounded panicked when he realized that Lance was crying. “Lance are you okay?”

 

“I’m a horrible person!” Lance sobbed almost unintelligently.

 

“You are not a horrible person.” Shiro said instantly, somehow having understood him.

 

“Keith hates me!” Lance continued to wail.

 

“Who is Keith?”

 

“RedLion! He hates me now and I deserve it! I never do anything right. I’m a huge screw up and I don’t even know why I try anymore. Everything I do turns out bad or is all for nothing and people just think I’m stupid and mean and I just am so tired of being who I am I just want to lay in my bed forever. I couldn’t even mend my relationship with him because as soon as we had a chance I went and fucked it up like every other thing in my life. I’m just so sick of who I am and I’m so sick of fucking up my life and the life of everyone around me. It’s because I’m trying so hard to be something or someone important when I’m just empty inside. I just can’t do this any-“

 

“Lance!” Shiro’s voice screamed over the phone, not for the first time, bringing Lances panicked speech to a halt. “Lance, what are you talking about?” Shiro continued when he realized the Lance was now listening. “None of those things are true. What made you think that?”

 

Through his sobbing Lance told Shiro the whole story starting form when him and Keith met, even retelling the parts that Shiro already knew. Shiro listened quietly only throwing in encouraging words when Lance needed to hear them. Just talking about it all made Lance feel a little better, but not near enough to erase the sinking feeling in his entire body.

 

When he was done there was a pause as Shiro tried to think of the best thing to say. “Lance….That situation is very complicated. But you know that everyone makes mistakes, right? Maybe you rushed things with Keith but that’s because you are human. Despite what you tell yourself you are a great person that brings joy to so many others. And maybe Keith was surprised by the kiss but that shouldn’t make him hate you. And if he does hate you for that, then maybe Keith isn’t the right person to be your friend or anything more. It’s not you Lance do you understand that? The things you say about yourself are not true. Have you ever thought about therapy?”

 

Lance wrinkled his nose. “Um, no.”

 

“You know you don’t need to sound disgusted about it. Therapy is a great thing. I go to therapy for things I’ll tell you about someday. It’s really helpful and nothing to be ashamed of. Maybe you can talk to your mom about it? If she knew that you felt this way about yourself then I’m sure she would do everything in her power to help you.”

 

“I don’t know….” Lance bit his lip and looked around the room as if he could find something to save him from the conversation. “It seems really scary. I don’t want to tell some stranger about what’s going on with me.”

 

“Yeah it is scary, and it’s not easy. Finding the right therapist can be a lot of work but I promise you Lance it will help you feel so much better then you are feeling right now. I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life thinking you don’t deserve to be alive or do something even worse.” As Shiro talked the emotions he was feeling moved into his voice. They sounded thick and on the edge of tears and it hit Lance suddenly how serious this all was. How serious it was that he felt this way about himself.

 

It was silent between them as Lance really thought about what it would mean to go to a adult for help. It was easier to deal with it all on his own, but it wasn’t better. “I….I think I will talk to her about it. Maybe not tonight…but I will soon.”

 

“I’m glad to hear it.” Lance could practically see his proud smile. “ Lance you are a great person and I love you for who you are. I don’t want to see you in pain. You are worth the effort.”

 

“Thanks Shiro...” Lance didn’t know how to feel. It was really weird to realize that someone out there cared this much about him that they would cry for him. Someone wanted him to get help. Hunk had some insight to the way Lance felt about himself but not the full picture like he had just given Shiro. Without realizing it he started crying again. He couldn’t remember the last time someone told him that he was worth it. That he was worth the pain of getting better. That it was worth it to someday actually love himself.

 

Lance stayed on the line as Lance just cried. He said soothing worlds and reminded him over and over again that he was loved by so many people. When they finally hung up it was really late. He had missed dinner but he was so tired. He barely plugged in his phone and turned off the light before he fell into a deep sleep.

 

The next day he was feeling better once again. When he saw Keith at the bus stop he didn’t feel like running, but it still hurt thinking about him and what happened. Keith pretended he didn’t exist at all, looking at the floor or off in the distance to his right but never across the street at him. It still hurt and little thoughts popped into his head about how he was a screw up and everyone hates him but he tried to hold on what Shiro had said so he didn’t sink back into himself.

 

You are worth it.

 

He chanted it over in his head. He said it in his head all day. He still didn’t feel well enough to pretend to be cheerful but he could tell in Hunks eyes that he was doing better every time he caught his relief shining in them.

 

When we went home that day he sat his mom and dad down. It was hard but he told them everything about how he felt about himself and about the depression. His mom cried and held him, his dad instantly got on the phone to try and find him a therapist like he had requested. By the time it should have been time for dinner him and his mom were all teared out and he had an appointment for that Friday somehow.

 

The next day being Thursday Lance knew he should tell Hunk what was going on.  He didn’t really want to, feeling kind of vulnerable about the whole thing, but he needed to tell his best friend because he loved him and knew that Hunk would never laugh at him for it.

 

Lance invited him over after school and Lance could see the joy in his eyes probably thinking that Lance was back to normal or guessing that Lance was finally ready to talk about it.

 

The whole thing went down almost exactly the way it had with his parents. Hunk cried as Lance told him how he felt about himself and about the therapy and then he was almost squished in a bear hug as Hunk went on and on about how glad he was that Lance was getting help.

 

When that part was over Lance went into what happened with Keith. Unexpectantly Hunk got mad and got up as if he was going to go over and kick Keith in the ass. One hand on his arm from Lance and Hunk somehow calmed down. Lance told him he was upset, but that it was between the two of them. Hunk understood and agreed even if he didn’t like it very much.

 

After talking to Shiro, his parents, and Hunk, Lance was feeling so much lighter. He never realized it felt so good to talk to someone about this kind of stuff instead of bottling it inside and suddenly Lance was actually excited for therapy. Lance loved to talk and if talking to just anyone made him feel this way, imagine what it would be like to talk to someone who was there for the sole purpose of listening to him and helping him through his issues.

 

Friday came and Lance felt nervous all through school. He didn’t even have time to think about Keith. When he got out of his last class his brother was waiting for him in the parking lot and took him to his appointment. He gave Lance a reassuring hug and told him he would be back in an hour to get him. Lance felt his eyes get teary as he let go of his brother and left to go in to tell the receptionist that he was there.

 

Two red eyes and an hour later, Lance emerged once again from the office to find his brother already there waiting for him. His brother looked concerned for Lance but when Lance shot him his brightest smile and gave him two thumbs up he knew that everything was going to be okay.

 

At dinner Lance told his whole family how it went without telling them the details of what they talked about. Lance explained that he was feeling better and already had another appointment for next week. His family was extremely happy for him and it made Lance feel warm.

 

Lance was honestly on a high. He didn’t think anything could bring him down. He was chatting with Pidge about the whole thing and Hunk too in another chat. He was even playing Bioshock, one of his favorite games, on his Xbox in his room which he only replayed when he was feeling really good.

 

As he shot at another zombie like person he heard his phone buzz. He paused the game and set the controller in his lap so he could grab his phone from his side table. He had expected it to be Hunk or maybe Pidge but the username displayed on the screen made him freeze.

 

**RedLion: I’m sorry**

 

Lance could feel his blood run cold, his entire good mood falling through the floor to be buried in the dirt. Sorry? Sorry for what? For avoiding him all week? For kissing him back? For Lance ever thinking they could have something together? His imagination was running in every direction. All of the worst case scenarios were popping up one after another. Lance could feel his hands start to shake even as he started tying back.

 

**MemeLord: Sorry about what?**

 

Lance stared at the phone as it showed that Keith read it but no response came.

 

**MemeLord: Keith please talk to me what are you sorry about?**

**MemeLord: Please you can’t leave after saying that.**

 

No matter how many times he texted Keith nothing was ever sent back. His text started to get more desperate and after an hour of trying to get Keith to say something all Lance felt he could do was curl up in a ball and cry. Somehow through all of this Lance had been able to forget how the situation with Keith made him feel, but it was all back. He was reminded of how Keith felt about it and what he had ruined. It felt like all the therapy was thrown out the window.

 

After Lance ran out of tears he was left with thinking the whole thing over and over again. He thought about every little thing he should have done differently or better. He knew he should never have kissed Keith. He knew it and Keith knew it.

 

But honestly why couldn’t Keith have just said it to his face? Why did he wait to go home to text Lance about it? He could have come up to Lance at school anytime. Didn’t he deserve to hear about what Keith thought to his face? Didn’t he deserve more from him when he was breaking his heart?

 

Lance felt a surge of anger race through him. It almost felt nostalgic, a throwback too much easier times when all they did was hate each other. Hating Keith felt so much better than being sad. Lance knew it wasn’t good, that he should take a step forward, not back, but that was easier said than done.

 

Without thinking, like usual, Lance slipped his feet into his shoes and stormed his way out his front door, across the street, and around back where he knew Keith’s room was. He didn’t have time to mess with Keith’s moms. He wanted to see the man himself before his anger faded.

 

Lance instantly started banging on Keith’s window and yelling at Keith to come open it. It took a few seconds for a surprised Keith to show up on the other side of the glass looking more afraid then annoyed.

 

“Open this window. Now.” Lance growled and pointed at the base of the window. Keith stared at him a second longer before he hesitantly moved to push the window up.

 

“Lance? What the Hell?” He asked but Lance was already going off.

 

“’I’m sorry’? What the hell did that mean? I get it you don’t like me I fucked up and now you hate me but if you wanted to let me down don’t you think you could have done it to my face? Do you know how shitty it felt to get that text? I had to sit there and think about what it meant and everything I did wrong. I didn’t think you were a coward Keith but maybe I never really knew you.”

 

Keith was staring at Lance with his mouth wide open as the other boy went off. When Lance finally finished he was breathing hard and he looked up to see Keith’s eyes blown wide in surprise.

 

“Lance…I uh…don’t hate you.” Keith’s voice came out choppy and unsure as his eyes slid down to look near Lance’s feet.

 

It was Lance’s turn to freeze. “You….Don’t?”

 

Keith shook his head. Opened his mouth, closed it again, opened it, sighed, then slumped his shoulders in defeat. “Come in here, it’s weird talking through a window.”

 

Lance was too confused to argue with Keith so he pulled himself through the window and found himself standing in Keith’s room. It was pretty plain but the things that he did have just screamed Keith. His computer in the corner was really nice, he had a few parts sitting on his dresser that Lance had no idea what they went to, one poster on a wall of a movie Lance had never heard of, and a messy bed.

 

Keith motioned for Lance to sit down on his bed, ripping Lance from his thoughts, and Lance sat down without a fight.

 

“So… the thing is…I’ve never liked someone before so I didn’t know how to react. I’m sorry that I ran away, I didn’t mean to. I thought that you hated me for running away and that’s why I didn’t say it to your face.”

 

Keith kept talking but Lance could barely hear him. Did Keith just say what he thought he said?

 

“Wait…wait.” Lance threw his hands up and stood up so he was in front of Keith. “Did you say…like? Like….Like like?”

 

Keith stared at Lance's face, his cheeks turning pink. “…Yes…”

 

“Who do you like?” Lance tilted his head to the side in confusion. It was like Lance knew but he didn’t want to assume in case he was wrong. “I’m sorry I think I got lost somewhere.”

 

The pink instantly disappeared from Keith’s face and instead he facepalmed before resurfacing to grab Lances shoulders as if he was about to shake them. “Lance….I like you… I have a crush on you. I thought you understood that when I kissed you back?”

 

“No!” Lance threw his arms into the air exasperated even thought his thoughts were going a million miles an hour and his stomach was full of butterflies. “How was I supposed to get that from a kiss when you ran away? That makes no sense Keith!” Lance’s voice rose high and higher as he spoke till he was practically yelling.

 

“Well sorry! Like I said I’ve never done anything like this before! And it’s not exactly like we have had a normal relationship up till then! And it’s not like you exactly said that you liked me either so I was really confused!” For some reason Keith was yelling back, matching Lance’s volume as if it wouldn’t get across if he didn’t.

 

“Well I like you dummy!” Lance yelled it so loud the whole street could probably hear him

 

“And I like you stupid!” Keith yelled back once again matching his volume.

 

“So want to be my boyfriend then?” Lance was still yelling for some reason, he was no longer mad but happy and excited. It was like he couldn’t stop.

 

“Yeah I really want to be your boyfriend!” Keith yelled it back and then they both just stared at each other.

 

“So...uh... what now?” Keith finally asked, breathing hard from the excitement of it all.

 

“Maybe Uh…” Lance's eyes darted around as he thought before they landed on Keith “…we should talk about everything? Just so we are on the same page?”

 

“Oh…yeah. It’s smart.”

 

Sitting on the bed together Keith started to talk. He said some things that Lance had already figured out but it was nice to hear them. Keith had been traumatized from the kid in his last home and that’s why he had instantly hated Lance. By the time he had realized Lance wasn’t the same it was too late to change the relationship between the two of them. For years he had just followed the motions of hating Lance without really feeling it. At the same time he had fallen in love with MemeKing. Keith had never planned to act on it, thinking he wasn’t good enough for someone like him who was happy, smart, and funny. When he had found out it was Lance he at first didn’t know what to do. But the more he thought about MemeKing and Lance being the same person the more it made sense. The more he fell for Lance the more he didn’t know what to do about it. He knew that the relationship between him and Lance was fragile and new but he couldn’t stop the feelings growing within him. That’s why he kissed Lance back and then got scared. He had never felt this way and never even imagined something would actually happen between them, and he didn’t know how to handle it. Keith instantly regretted it but didn’t know how to go up to Lance so he ignored him instead.

 

When Keith finished his tale Lance fought the urge to laugh. It was kind of funny how similar their stories had been, and how dumb they both were. Then Lance took his turn telling Keith everything. Even things Keith probably didn’t need to know like about his new therapy. At some point during their talk they ended up holding hands between them.

 

“I’m really happy that you’re getting help Lance. I know I messed up a lot when it comes to you and I probably made things worse. I honestly can’t imagine why you like me.” Keith didn’t look at Lance when he said this. It was like he was scared to see how Lance would react.

 

Lance squeezed his hand tightly. “I can’t imagine why you would like me. I was never nice to you. I hurt you too.”

 

Keith looked over at Lance, a small smile on his face. “Its cause I always knew you were so much more than that. You were so much better than everyone else. That’s why I was so jealous of you. You’re so bright Lance. You light up the entire world.”

 

Lance felt his heart start thumping in his chest. Was it bad that just those words from Keith made his heart feel on the edge of exploding? Without thinking too much he reached out and rested his hand on Keith’s cheek.

 

“That’s funny, cause I was just thinking the same thing about you.” Keith blushed again right before Lance leaned in to kiss Keith for a second time. As soon as they touched Lance was lost in how soft Keith’s lips were and how good it made him feel. This kiss lasted longer than their first and when they pulled away there was no longer any more confusion.

 

They both knew that this wasn’t the end of anything. Just because they knew they both liked each other didn’t mean they didn’t have a thousand things to fix and a thousand things to make up for. As they looked into each other’s eyes with big goofy smiles on their lips, they knew that this felt worth it. It felt worth all the pain, all the heartache, all the confusion. It was worth it to work on this relationship, to fix it and maintain it over and over again. The future was so full and it felt even fuller when they realized that they would be together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, so that happened and it wasn't written very well. Sorry once again. All that's left now is an epilogue and I'm not sure how long that will take me. I'm hoping that I'll finish before the year is up like I said but I don't have a lot of details planned for it. Just a vague idea. Thank you everyone who read this far. Its meant so much to me to have people actually invested in what I write. I love every one of you <3


	9. Love Will Find You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS IT!!! wow, this is the end its over???? I have never finished a multi-chapter fanfic before so this is actually really exciting for me??? I'm honestly really emotional about it.
> 
> I just want to say that its thanks to all of my readers and especially those who left me wonderful comments. Your words and encouragement has pushed me to keep writing even when I felt like I should stop. I wasn't sure how long it would take me to write this last part but because of the comments I received i was so excited to finish it took me two days. I can't express how thankful I am to have so many people read this and I will remember this as a positive experience for the rest of my life. I am just so thankful <3
> 
> I'm not sure if I will be starting another fanfiction after this. Fanfiction has never really been my thing. However, if you are interested in reading something else of mine I'm currently posting an original story online. I think your not supposed to advertise yourself on other websites on here but??? I'm gonna do it. If you head over to tapas and look up the same username RiddlerKP you can read my story Summer House! Its also a work in progress and its updates are not frequent but I would love to see you all over there.
> 
> So with that please enjoy the last chapter of this story!

** Months later: **

 

Lance couldn’t calm his breathing. It was rushing in and out of his body without his consent. He wanted to slow it down, believe him he really did, but his body wouldn’t let him. His mind was running wild. He could feel the panic cling to his body in the form of sweat. He felt tears forming behind his eyes just seconds from pushing their way out.

 

“Babe, it’s going to be okay, there is nothing to worry about they are going to love you.” Lance raised his eyes from his clenched hands up to Keith who was holding his face gently and staring deep into his eyes. “Just breathe with me okay. In, out, in out.”

 

Neither Keith nor Lance were strangers to panic attacks nor was it the first time it had happened in the presence of the other. They had figured out the best way to help the other, Keith usually didn’t want to be touched. He would curl up somewhere and Lance would talk to him soothingly from a distance. When he finally felt better he would uncurl and make his way over to where Lance was. He wouldn’t touch him, but he was feeling well enough to want to be next to Lance at least.

 

Lance was different. If he was left alone it got worse. He needed someone to pull him out of it as quickly as possible or he would spiral. The first time Keith saw Lance have a panic attack he started to move away from Lance but when he realized it wasn’t getting better he instantly realized that he and Lance were very different people when it came to being comforted and quickly found that touching Lance and talking to him helped.

 

That’s why the two of them were like that now. Lance was sitting on the edge of Keith’s bed, fully dressed having been seconds from walking out the door. Keith seemed to practically be in the others boys lap. Sure it was to comfort Lance but it also helped walk Lance through calming down. Lance could feel Keith’s body breathing at a much slower pace than his own. He could barely hear what Keith was saying over his extremely loud mind but he knew he needed to calm his breathing down. He worked hard to match his pace to Keith’s as he felt hands run soothingly through his hair.

 

“There is no need to be worried. You are safe, you are loved, and nothing will hurt you.” Keith’s voice spoke lowly in his ear.

 

It felt like hours but it was only a handful of minutes before Lance was coming out of it. He was exhausted and pulled Keith even closer against him, burying his face into the other boy’s neck.

 

“Thanks honey.” Lance breathed out, his breath washing over Keith’s neck.

 

“Are you feeling better?” Keith was still a little stiff from stress but was slowly calming down himself. Lance was usually so happy and carefree that it always sent him into a panic mode himself when Lance was in a bad place. He was way better than how he was when they first started dating but it was still not his best. He just wished he could help Lance more then he could.

 

Things had actually been quite different when they had started dating. Things were awkward and confusing at first. This was extremely new territory for the both of them not to mention that fact their knee-jerk reaction was to be mean to each other. It took a lot longer than they liked to talk about to get past that.

 

If you asked Hunk he would tell you that he wouldn’t have known that the two of them were dating if they hadn’t told him themselves. That was a pretty interesting event when they did. For some reason Keith and Lance had decided to keep the fact they were dating to themselves for a few days so once again poor Hunk had been left in the dark. The two of them seemed fine and they were together a lot now but they wouldn’t tell him what had happened between them that weekend. Eventually the two boys sat him down after school and told them they were dating. Hunk had looked at both of them, slowly analyzing them as if to make sure they were not pulling his leg. When he deemed that it was the truth he broke out in a huge smile and pulled both of them into a big hug. He wouldn’t stop blubbering about how happy he was for the two of them and how he knew that everything would work out okay.

 

It wasn’t until a lot longer later the parents got involved. Keith’s moms already knew he was gay so it didn’t take a lot to tell him he was dating Lance. Keith had actually held off so long knowing his moms would be TOO happy about the fact he was dating Lance. He was right. The next time that Lance came over he was instantly smothered by the two ladies. The two of them didn’t get to hang out that day at all thanks to the fact that his moms had officially kidnapped Lance and was talking about things Keith would rather not have let see the light of day.

 

Lance’s parents were a different story. Lance didn’t think his parents would hate him or anything for being bisexual, but that fear was still there. What if they did hate him, or what if they didn’t believe him, what if they chose to ignore the fact he was bisexual, or told him he couldn’t date Keith? The unknown was scary and Lance didn’t know if he could handle it if it went bad.

 

Yet he knew it would have to happen one day. Lance decided it would go down his way if it had to go down. The announcement to his parents had been a bit more formal. He asked his parents if he could have dinner with just them one Friday night. His parents had looked at him in confusion before agreeing and setting a date. When the day arrived he cooked dinner, dressed up nicely, and set the table. His brother went to their sister’s house and gave Lance a look as he left. Lance wasn’t sure if his brother knew or just thought he knew what was going on. Lance didn’t have the mind right then to think about it. When his parents came home he took them to the table and sat them down. He sent Keith a text as he announced they would be having one more guest that night. Perfectly time Keith then knocked and Lance went to let him in.

 

When his parents saw Keith they looked confused but didn’t say anything. They just happily welcomed him and told him that Lance had made a beautiful dinner and it was a pleasure to have him with them. They sat down and ate with happy conversation flowing through the four of them. When they had all finished Lance took a deep breath. Then another to try and keep the anxiety from bubbling up. He had taken Keith’s hand for strength and he watched his parent’s eyes zone in on their hands resting on the table. Then in a voice some might say was a little too loud Lance announced that he was bisexual and that him and Keith had been dating for a little while.

 

His parents reacted wonderfully to say the least. Lance knew that this would be how they reacted but it was finally nice to know that this was for sure how they felt. They gave Lance a hug and thanked him for telling them. Then they gave Keith a hug, which surprised Keith, and told him they were happy that Lance had found someone. Keith for a second felt like they had just told his parents they were getting married instead of dating but he actually didn’t mind. Instead he hugged them back and told them he was happy that Lance had picked him.

 

After that the two were inseparable. One was always over at the others house after school late into the night. It even got to the point where they started staying the night over at the others house. First it was an accident after a late night of playing video games, but soon became intentional. Weirdly enough neither of their parents minded. Lance was grateful because he didn’t know if he could survive waiting to hold Keith while they slept again. Over the months Keith had warmed up to Lance intensely. At first Keith had been hesitant about Lance holding his hand or pecking him on the lips casually but after a while Keith starting initiating those kinds of things himself. He would snuggle up to Lance while watching a movie or move in for a hug at the bus stop on a cold morning. Lance didn’t complain one bit. However, it was when they were sleeping in the same bed and Keith snuggled up to Lance’s chest that he almost melted into a puddle. Keith was so warm with soft skin and calloused hands. His hair falling in his face so Lance could move it away and kiss his forehead like some romantic movie. Lance could feel his heart swell with love for the boy in his arms and he never wanted it to end. If his parents had taken this away from him he didn’t know what he would have done.

 

It was after that that Lance could no longer hold in his affection for Keith at school. The first time Lance reached for his hand as they walked to lunch Lance was sure Keith would rip his hand away from him. Instead as their fingers touch he felt Keith grab on tightly then look up to Lance with a bright smile that only gave away a hint of nervousness. It was that face that reminded Lance why he loved Keith. He was so brave and strong even when he was scared. Lance wanted to kiss him right then and there but decided he would take it one day at a time.

 

It didn’t take long for the two of them to become famous at their school. Even to the point that in the yearbook they got voted the most likely to be married first. Sure there were some assholes who made homophobic comments, but it turns out Lance wasn’t as affected by them as he thought he would. Maybe that was because if Keith ever heard something along those lines he looked murderous and scared the shit out of everyone in the vicinity and Lance had to think more about calming his boyfriend down then actually thinking about what was being said.

 

Life kept moving and eventually graduation was coming up and acceptance letters were arriving in the mail. Keith already knew where he was going. The community college didn’t turn down people unless they had really bad grades and even then that was rare. Keith knew as soon as he had applied that he would be going there. The difference was Keith didn’t know what Lance was doing. Lance was smart and a really good swimmer. He had offers from schools he hadn’t even applied to and some really good offers to nice schools out of state. Keith had been worried that now that he had Lance he was going to leave. He couldn’t help but curse himself for wasting so much time with Lance. Every time Lance excitedly told him about a new acceptance letter or offer Keith would force a smile on his face. He was so happy for Lance but he was scared. He knew Lance would go to college and find someone better than Keith. Someone more like Lance he related more too. Keith could tell he was being stupid and cliché but he couldn’t stop it. He was going to stay at home and go to community college and have to stay behind and watch Lance go on an adventure without him. It really hurt.

 

But Lance wasn’t stupid either. He could tell that Keith was upset, but he could also tell that Keith didn’t want to talk about it with him. Lance knew not to push Keith, but to let him come to Lance on his own terms. And while that was hard for Lance who loved to talk, he respected Keith’s boundaries.

 

It was when Lance finally told Keith he had decided to go to the college just a town over that Keith started crying. At first Lance thought Keith was mad but he quickly realized that Keith was happy. He explained to Lance how scared he had been that he was going to go far away and that Keith was going to lose him. Lance tried not to laugh. Lance reminded Keith that way before they had started dating that Lance had wanted to stay as close to home as possible. He didn’t want to be far from his family or go to some place that was expensive. He had a full ride at this college and that it was only a 15 minute drive on the freeway to get home. He added quickly that it was a plus that he would only be 15 miles away from Keith too.

 

Keith decided then to never distrust Lance again.

 

Keith was more inclined to speak his mind to Lance after that. Lance was thrilled that Keith was talking to him more and more and this just made him fall more and more for Keith. Lance didn’t even know if he had room left in his heart for his love of Keith to keep growing. Yet as days and weeks went by he found that there would never be not enough room for Keith.

 

Finally graduation was upon them and Lance, Keith, and Hunk all graduated with high honors. Hunk even got to say a speech as a valedictorian. Keith and Lance were actually valedictorians too but chose not to try for a speech. Keith was surprised when Lance didn’t try to compete for the honor. Lance just explained to Keith that he didn’t think he would have anything good to say up there. Plus he just wanted to watch is best friend shine on stage. For days Keith couldn’t stop thinking about the proud smile Lance had on his face when he said that.

 

Another thing going pretty well in Lance’s life was his therapy. At first he had an appointment every week but now he went every other week for the sake of money and that he was doing a lot better. It was always a relief to flop down on the couch and be like ‘Janice you will not BELIEVE what shit I have going on’. The two of them were currently talking about Lance getting on some antidepressants. Lance was a little scared because he knew that sometimes the drugs made you feel nothing but Janice told him that if that happened they would just try something else. It was a process to find the medication that works for each person. Lance was supposed to think about it and get back to her at their appointment next week.

 

All that brought them back to the present with Keith in his lap and Lance trying to calm down completely.

 

“Honestly I’m doing a little better but I’m not one hundred percent.” Lance answered honestly, his whole body feeling tired.

 

“Should I tell them that we will be late then?” Keith tried to say it in a way that didn’t put any blame on Lance but he wasn’t sure if it worked.

 

Lance just put on his best smile and moved Keith off him to stand up and pull Keith up after him. “No, don’t worry about it. I’m going to be fine.”

 

“Lance you seriously just had a panic attack we don’t have to rush this.” Keith squeezed down on Lance's hand as if to try and get across that Keith was behind Lance no matter what.

 

“But I want to. I really want to do this. I’ve been waiting years to do this. I don’t want to put it off for another second. I promise am going to be okay.” Lance looked at Keith’s face, trying to convey with his expression that everything was okay.

 

Keith thought for a second, his lips scrunched together, before he sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine. Let’s go.”

 

Lances face cracked into a smile and ducked in for a quick kiss before he ran out the door to exit the house and climb into the car he had just gotten for his birthday. It was an old used car but Lance loved it and Keith loved it too cause it meant it would be easier for Lance to come home from college.

 

Keith followed behind at a much slower pace and got into the passenger seat. Without a second the two of them took off. The drive to the meeting spot was about a 20 minute drive. Lance tried to distract him from his anxiety the way over by talking about everything and anything. He was glad that Keith didn’t call him out for it even though he was being so obvious. He didn’t want Keith to make them stop the car or go home because he didn’t think he could handle it. Lance could handle it, even if the journey was a little bumpy he was going to do it.

 

The drive felt like years so when they finally pulled into the parking lot of a park Lance felt relief and anxiety both spike up to an all-time high. This was really happening. This was happening right now. Lance could feel his breathing pick up again.

 

He was pulled from his spiral by Keith grabbing his face and pulling him towards him so their foreheads were touching. Lance didn’t even need to be prompted to take a deep breath with Keith and let it out slowly.

 

“You going to be amazing. They are going to love you.” Keith said sternly despite his eyes being closed. Lance realized right away that Keith’s hands were shaking on his face. Keith was scared too. Lance wanted to slap himself. Of course, Keith was nervous. Keith, the guy who was too scared to tell his internet friends his name or send them a picture. He was just as vulnerable as Lance but he had tried to be strong for Lance. Why was Keith so amazing?

 

Taking advantage of Keith’s eyes being closed Lance leaned forward for a kiss. Keith’s eyes flew open in surprise before he kissed Lance back. When they pulled apart Keith had an eyebrow raised.

 

“What was that for?”

 

“A good luck kiss. For the both of us. You’re going to be fine too you know? It’s impossible not to love you…. Seriously.”

 

Keith looked out the window instead of at Lance. “I don’t know about that. I’m nothing like you.”

 

“Hey hey hey. Look at me.” Keith’s eyes flickered over to Lance before looking back out the window. His eyebrows were starting to furrow as he started sinking back into his standoffish mask. “Keith... look at me I swear.” Lance brought his hands up in a motion that made it look like he was about to tickle Keith.

 

“Lance do not tickle me.” Keith growled but he could see the beginning of a smile forming on Keith’s face. Lance came in closer, the smile on his own face about to crack his lips from being so huge. “Lance don’t you remember I punched you in the face last time?”

 

“You didn’t mean to.” Lance said playfully as his fingers inched closer and closer.

 

“Yeah I won’t mean to this time either but it doesn’t mean it won’t happen.” Keith pointed at lances face sternly as If it would make him stop.

 

“Then just admit that you are amazing and lovable!! If you are going to tell me that then you have to at least tell it to yourself.”

 

Keith frowned before he did his famous eye roll. “Okay we are both great people and we have nothing to worry about!”

 

“Good, now let’s go!” Lance leaped out of the car and waited for Keith in the front so they could hold hands as they walked towards a big pavilion in the distance.

 

The thing Keith had noticed about Lance was that even if he was having bad anxiety, if he felt he had to take care of someone else it was like it disappeared. Some kind of weird loophole where Lances need to take care of others took over and it was like he didn’t matter anymore. Keith wondered if Lance realized this about himself.

 

Before Keith could even think to ask a small figure running full speed at them caught his attention. His mind could barely register what was happening before it crashed into Lance, ripping their hands apart and making Lance stumble back.

 

Lance hadn’t even seen the person coming, too lost in thought in making sure Keith was okay. However, when he realized who was clinging to him like a monkey, Lance lost all ability to remain composed.

 

“PIDGE HOLY SHIT ITS YOU!!” Lance screeched louder than humanly possible and started spinning the short girl in his arms around.

 

“Lance!! You are so tall and stick like. You are exactly how I thought you would be!” Pidge laughed as Lance put her down. She didn’t waste a second to run over and hug Keith. Keith was stiff for a few seconds too long before he awkwardly hugged her back. “And you are just as awkward as I imagined you would be!”

 

“Pidge! Shut up!” Lance squawked and elbowed her in the side. Pidge just laughed and the two of them stared roughhousing as two more figures started making their way over to them.

 

Lance had been too busy messing around with Pidge to notice them but Keith couldn’t take his eyes away. Walking towards him was Shiro and Allura. Keith almost felt like he was seeing a celebrity. Shiro had been Keith’s first friend on the internet. Second friend ever if you counted Hunk as being his first. Shiro had helped him a lot. More than Keith could ever repay and he was pretty embarrassed about that. But Shiro was like a big brother to him and the emotions he felt washing through him were more then he could handle. So he did what he always did, crossed his arms and stared at the floor.

 

It was for that reason that Keith wasn’t ready for when Shiro came up to him and gave him a tight hug and lifted him into the air. Keith yelled in shock and felt like his arms were going to be crushed.

 

“Keith! Don’t you dare try to ignore me!” Shiro said playfully and held him in the air for a few seconds as Keith struggled before setting his feet back on the grass. “It’s our first time meeting in person and your being shy!”

 

“I’m not being shy!” Keith snapped but it just made Shiro laugh.

 

Before Shiro could respond, high pitched talking made both of the boys look over to see Allura and Lance gushing about something while Pidged looked up at both of them. Allura looked over at Keith as if he had felt their gaze and her face broke out into another big smile.

 

“Keith! It’s so good to finally see you in person!” She came over to him and gave him a hug as strong as Shiro’s if not stronger. At the same time Shiro went over and gave Lance a big hug of his own. “How are you?”

 

“Um, good.” Keith muttered and Lance and Shiro made their way back over. Lance didn’t waste a second and wrapped his arm around Keith’s middle, making him feel a little better.

 

“Where is my main man? Not here yet?” Lance said looking around the park as if Hunk was hiding in a bush somewhere.

 

“Not here yet- Oh wait is that him?” Pidge said as she squinted off towards the entrance.

 

Lance looked over to where she was looking and sure enough it was him. Hunk, being the Brainiac he was, had been offered a research job over the summer at the college he had been accepted to. It was almost unheard of for a freshman to be offered this position before they had even technically started at the school, but that’s just how amazing Hunk was. Lance had first been a little sad that his friend was going to be leaving him even earlier but it couldn’t overshadow the excitement he had for his best friend. Hunk was going to do amazing things, Lance was sure of it.

 

But this did mean that Hunk had a few hour drive to make it back home. They had planned this day to meet based on Hunks schedule to make sure he could make it and that’s why it had taken awhile. But now, surrounded by all his friends, he knew it had been worth the wait.

 

Hunk parked his car and got out, instantly swarmed with hugs by all of them, even Keith having been swept up in the moment and having genuinely missed the big guy.

 

“I can’t believe you guys were starting without me!” Hunk whined when everyone let him go.

 

Lance rolled his eyes somehow with his whole body. “We were not starting without you! The food is way over there.”

 

“Yes do not worry! We would never start without you! Shiro, Pidge, and I set the food out but we did not touch it, I promise!” Allura said excitedly, clapping her hands together.

 

“Aww you guys are the best!” Hunk looked like he wanted to hug them all again but his stomach growled interrupting them. “ And I’m starving!”

 

“Then shall we make out way over? I’m sure we all have much to talk about! I’m so excited to finally be with all of you!” Allura’s excitement was practically vibrating out of her as she talked, not even waiting for anyone to answer her. She tugged on Hunks arm and started leading him over to the pavilion even though he would have went willingly without her guidance. The rest of them started following after, little jokes and laughter starting up between Pidge and Lance.

 

When they reached the table it was set up beautifully. When they had decided on a picnic so they could meet somewhere private but public Lance never thought that it would be so nice. Lance was used to picnics of fast food or packaged deserts but everything on the table looked handmade.

 

“Who made all this?” Keith asked beating Lance to it.

 

“Me and Shiro of course!” Allura said while popping lids off of dishes she hands uncovered yet.

 

“How did you get this all here on the plane?” Lance said, his eyes unable to stop roaming over everything.

 

“Silly we made it at the rental house this morning!”

 

This actually made a lot of sense to Lance. They had found out just recently that Shiro and Allura had met before. Even worse they had dated for a little over a year and not told any of them. Allura was actually from England while Shiro was from America like the rest of them. Their relationship hadn’t ended badly but long distance was hard and with Allura working at her dads business and in her free time going to school for politics there hadn’t been a lot of time for them. They had broken it off peacefully, but Lance wondered if that was the end of their story. Maybe there was something more in the future for them, or maybe they had their own paths to go down, only time would tell.

 

Either way they were closer then Lance had originally realized, close enough that they decided to rent a house in the area for a few weeks so they didn’t have to rent a hotel or go back home so soon. They even let Pidge stay with them when she visited for free. Pidge wasn’t as far away as Shiro and Allura but far enough that she couldn’t pop in whenever she wanted to. This time she had brought her older brother Matt so her mom was more comfortable with the situation. He was cool enough to stay behind today though, but Pidge had already texted him about how well her brother and Shiro got along. Pidge wondered if there was something Shiro hadn’t told them yet but Lance told her not to joke about that kind of stuff. Pidge shut up pretty quickly about it.

 

“How were your flights by the way?” Hunk asked Shiro and Allura, already digging into something and passing something else to Lance who started digging in as well.

 

“Long, but I’m glad to be here!” Allura said cheerfully and joined the two boys in eating.

 

“I slept the entire time.” Shiro said with a shrug but Lance found it impressive. The few time she had been on a plane at night he had never been able to sleep well.

 

Then with that the group broke out is easy chatting. It was almost like this wasn’t the first time they had all been together in person. There was laughing and teasing and easy talking and Lance wondered why he had ever been nervous. These were his friends. He loved every single one of them and was so fortunate to get to meet all of them. Not everyone had the money or the time to do this. In that moment he truly felt loved.

 

Out of habit he reached over and took Keith’s hand. Keith was used to it so he was able to eat even without both hands. In honestly neither of them thought that much about it.

 

“What are you two going to do when school starts?” Shiro asked suddenly, his food mostly untouched in front of him.

 

“What do you mean?” Lance said with a tilt of his head, his cheeks still full of food.

 

“You guys seem really attached to each other. Are you going to be okay?”

 

“Of course!” Lance puffed his chest out as if his honor was being challenged. “Our love knows no bounds! Plus we are going to make trips to see each other all the time. We are going to be fine!”

 

“I’m really glad you guys will be okay.” Allura said with a sweet smile but all Keith could think about was how she must feel about long distance relationships with her and Shiro. Keith and her had never talked much about it but he could imagine how it felt.

 

“Yeah and I’m glad the two of you are not annoying anymore. Before you guys got together you were soooo annoying I just wanted to knock your heads together.” Pidge said pointing at the two of them with her fork.

 

“What are you saying?” Lance put his free hand to his chest and gave her his best offended look. “Used to be annoying?” Then he leaned over and gave Keith a sloppy kiss that even annoyed Keith a little. “Used to?” Lance echoed giving Pidge the same look.

 

“No you are right you are still annoying sorry for thinking otherwise.” Pidge said with her face scrunched up in disgust.

 

“That’s what I thought.” Lance said smugly and leaned into Keith who just looked extremely unamused.

 

“So do you have any future plans?” Shiro asked, trying to bring the conversation back to its original topic.

 

“What do you mean?” Keith asked since Lance was too busy making faces sat Pidge.

 

“Like, just the two of yours future!” Allura added helpfully.

 

“Yeah, like when’s the wedding.” Hunk said with a laugh but it just made Keith blush.

 

“I mean we just plan to see each other as much as we can. And when I get my degree we were talking about me moving to where Lance is and getting an apartment there. No…uh…wedding plans.”

 

“Really! That sounds like a wonderful idea. You’re not rushing anything but it shows you two are committed.” Allura looked way more excited for the two of them then she should have been but Keith didn’t mind.

 

“Yeah…we are.” Keith looked down at where his and Lance’s hands were still connected. Lance seemed to notice this and looked back over at Keith.

 

“What’s up?” His eyes were bright and his smile small and cute. Keith couldn’t help but think about how much he loved Lance and how wonderful he was.

 

“Nothing…I’m just happy.” Keith could feel the blush spread across his face but he didn’t care. He wasn’t afraid of lance seeing that side of him.

 

Lances face turned brighter than the sun as he smiled. He looked around at each of his friends and he couldn’t be happier to have them all around him. He looked at Keith and he couldn’t help but be excited for whatever the future brought them. The future was full of so many possibilities and when he had all these wonderful people in his life he didn’t think it could be a bad future.

 

 “Me too. I’ve never been happier.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I really can't believe I finished this. Only took me exactly five months. I hope that this story was satisfying for everyone. I wrote this for fun and I hope it was fun to read. I would love to hear from you all on what you thought but once again I'm not looking for criticism or how to improve my writing. That wasn't the purpose of this story. If you want to talk to me you can always find me over at tumblr.lies-n-slander.com I would love to talk to you about Voltron or anything else.
> 
> Once again just thank you so much for taking your time to read this whole story! It means so much to me to have an audience as great as you all were. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I promise in the future there will be some talking in the group chat and some actually older Lance and Keith conflict. Plus the romance has to begin at some point. I seriously threw up on a word document so I still have to figure out what's going to happen. Anyways if you took the time to read this thank you so much and I hope to see you in the next chapter!


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